Here we go AGAIN, Mcdonald's corp in the hot seat!!
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
December 17, 2010 1:32pm CST
Hi my favorite peeps - and here we go again! So I heard just the other day that McDonalds is being sued YET AGAIN! By another nitwit in California where I live. Seriously, I am NOT like all the idiots you hear about in my state so PLEASE do not judge me by their awful examples.
So anyway, this time it is - TA DA!! - in relation to the happy meals and toys. This person is 'claiming' that McDonalds exploits children by marketing directly TO them and that children become obese because they demand the toys and demand to be taken to Mcdonalds and that McDonalds is destroying all sorts of things.
Number one - who is the boss, you or your kid? If you answered 'I am', then don't be fooled by this mockery. If YOU are indeed the boss, then doesn't it stand to reason YOU control what your child sees? Right. YOU control where your child GOES. YOU control what money is spent on and why. YOU YOU YOU. Not McDonalds. Not your child. We are talking about SMALL children here. Not school age children who can indeed be influenced by outside factors. Bottom line, if you give in to your child whining about things they want that you know better than to give them, you cannot blame another person, another corporation, or anything but yourself.
Number two - the influence of advertising. Don't we all know advertising is hogwash? Nothing? Why do any of you let it influence you? Don't you talk to your children about what advertising is and how to avoid it and ignore it? If you don't, why don't you? You talk to your children about not saying hi to strangers.
Number three - who - if any of you - actually becomes COMPELLED against your will to go into a McDonalds and eat and eat and eat until you die? Have any of you been dragged in by your hair, held at gunpoint, and FORCED to eat at a McDonalds? Well have you? I daresay nobody will raise a hand. That's just not something that occurs, not in the real world, and not even in some dream the person sueing is using as a reason for sueing.
Number four - if YOU don't like McDonalds, what do you think possibly gives YOU the right to take that away from people who DO? I know that I* am not complaining about McDonalds. *I* don't have a problem with them existing. *I* don't have a problem with going there occasionally to get a happy meal. I DO DEFINITELY have a problem with anybody else out there who wants to interfere with my right to peacefully go get a happy meal. I do not want to have to jump thru hoops and be forced to do all sorts of stupid things or be harrassed just because I want a happy meal. If you don't like McDonalds, DON'T EAT THERE. Don't sue them, don't gripe, don't whine, don't try to make this bigger than your own issue. Ugh. I don't try to take away the rights of other people to self censor what's in THEIR world. I don't want them to try and CENSOR what's in MINE!!
Do you support McDonalds??
4 people like this
12 responses
@luluwow (165)
• United States
17 Dec 10
I believe it is the parents responsibility to guide their kids with good decisions about health, the foods they eat, and good manners (no whining or begging. Parents have the buying power in the household, as well as the buying and preperation of food choices, toys, television, etc. Unfortunately, many parents have little to no concept of health, spending, or their liesure time (TV)etc.
I do NOT support McDonalds as in my opinion they are a bad and irresponsible company... however, NO ONE is forced to patronize them, and if people feel the compulsion to do so, it is their health on the line, so be it.
2 people like this
@mysticmaggie (2498)
• United States
18 Dec 10
Foolish lawsuits, such as this, lead to our government putting their two cents into what we can and can't do. They are already working on how much salt we can be served in the food we eat in restaurants. Certainly, you can add more at the table, but it rarely tastes the same as having it put in during cooking.
They are censuring regular sodas by adding a large tax on buying them.
They are demanding that McDonald's and all the other fast food restaurants serve healthy food. Frankly, if I wanted healthy food, I'd stay home and cook it! I go to McDonald's to have a lovely sinful double cheeseburger with large salty fries, and a thick milkshake. They can serve all the salads they want, and I won't buy them. Have that at home and eat it regularly.
Get the government out of the business of telling me what I can eat. They are welcomed to check the restaruants for cleanliness, but I go to a particular restaurant because I like the amount of seasonings of all kinds they already use.
This lady is a wimpy little woman, who appears incapable of handling her children. I have been able to care for my children and make the decisions for them until they were capable of making their own. If she works, it's obvious she should stay home and get her kids under control. (Okay, that's a little tongue-in-cheek, but get her out of our lives, puh-leese!)
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
24 Dec 10
Well... that is why if I have to, I will bring my OWN oil and salt and whatever. The customer is right and the customer is the one paying. I have gotten into it with people before and demanded they do what I want because 1. it is in their job description 2. I am the customer and I am PAYING for the service. I'll even prove it if I have to with a copy of their job description lol.
I am not above using threats to get what I pay for, and I don't care who 'doesn't like me' because of it. There are people who just want everybody to like them and for life to be smooth, even if it means they never get anything they really want. I am the opposite. If it's your job to give me what I want and I am expected to pay for your services, then you provide me the service I want. I don't pay people to like me. I don't pay people to agree. I pay them to perform the service they are hired for. That's all. I am very pleasant if they simply DO THEIR JOB.
I am very vocal about my distaste for government and people in it. If they MINDED THEIR OWN BUSINESS, I would probably not pay them a second's mind, nor care who they were, because honestly, as people, they are unimportant to me. What is important is their insidious evil actions that are ruining the freedoms you and I and everybody else DESERVE. How I would love to take away something THEY treasure and say 'oh, well I"m just going to take it away from you because I think I know better than you and that will be that. If you'd like to reconsider what YOU did to the rest of us, I will consider giving you back your token little thing, but you'd have to kiss my feet forever and NEVER do something like that again, or I have the right to throw you in jail forever' 
I am the FIRST to say that we need PE EVERY DAY in schools. EVERY DAY. I don't care about the school lunches as much as I care about them having mandatory PE every day in every school from preschool through college. So many people gripe about food. It isn't about the food. If people have other healthy habits and exercise or work out regularly, the food part is not a big deal unless you are eating like... 10,000 calories a day. Now as far as them interfering with lunches - ALL they have the right to do is to provide school lunches. I do not believe ANY school, administrative person, teacher, or other staff member ever has any right to scrutinize, complain about, or TOUCH a child's lunch - however if a child NEVER brings one and is hungry, sure, they can give the child school lunch. I will fight ANYBODY who goes around and thinks they can make MY rules or try to parent MY child. It's MY life. It's MY kid. If YOU don't want to run your life and parent YOUR child, that's fine (general you, not YOU), but people like that need to step off. I'll tell em to find a nice comfortable hole.
I am also going to steer my daughter away from student loans. I think loans are an awful way to start your young adult life, so scholarships and non-income based grants are where it's at. AND.. she will study whatever career interests HER. Not what *I* want. Definitely NOT what anybody else other than SHE wants. Trust me. Yeah, I really have never been keen on any of those bills. Nobody reads all the fine print and they try to bury as much in there as possible. People like this woman and the organization she is doing this with need to be shut down. This is a very clear example of how stupid our society is becoming.
I am the FIRST to say that we need PE EVERY DAY in schools. EVERY DAY. I don't care about the school lunches as much as I care about them having mandatory PE every day in every school from preschool through college. So many people gripe about food. It isn't about the food. If people have other healthy habits and exercise or work out regularly, the food part is not a big deal unless you are eating like... 10,000 calories a day. Now as far as them interfering with lunches - ALL they have the right to do is to provide school lunches. I do not believe ANY school, administrative person, teacher, or other staff member ever has any right to scrutinize, complain about, or TOUCH a child's lunch - however if a child NEVER brings one and is hungry, sure, they can give the child school lunch. I will fight ANYBODY who goes around and thinks they can make MY rules or try to parent MY child. It's MY life. It's MY kid. If YOU don't want to run your life and parent YOUR child, that's fine (general you, not YOU), but people like that need to step off. I'll tell em to find a nice comfortable hole.
I am also going to steer my daughter away from student loans. I think loans are an awful way to start your young adult life, so scholarships and non-income based grants are where it's at. AND.. she will study whatever career interests HER. Not what *I* want. Definitely NOT what anybody else other than SHE wants. Trust me. Yeah, I really have never been keen on any of those bills. Nobody reads all the fine print and they try to bury as much in there as possible. People like this woman and the organization she is doing this with need to be shut down. This is a very clear example of how stupid our society is becoming.1 person likes this
@mysticmaggie (2498)
• United States
24 Dec 10
I love your pluck! We would make quite a pair. Now, if only we could get the sheep to see the wolves hiding in the flock, we could make more head way. Here's hoping the tea parties grow stronger because that's exactly what they want - less government poking their noses into our private lives.
1 person likes this
@mysticmaggie (2498)
• United States
24 Dec 10
The government doesn't discuss what they want to do. They just do it. Such as making all the fast food chains switch cooking oils. They didn't ask if that was what the public wanted; they just told the food chains they WOULD do it. So, if you eat at any of them, you get the new oils. Frankly, the new ones give a bad after taste to the foods. I used to love KFC, but rarely go there now, because the oils destroyed the taste of the chicken.
That's the same with sit-down restaurants, they can MAKE them cut down the amount of salt, change the cooking oil, etc., even to the point of taking the salt shakers off the tables. Since the restaurants have to obey, you obey by default.
And, no matter what they do, "it is for the greater good".
Think about this obesity business real hard and the sudden efforts going into changing what is offered to children in school. What they fail to mention is that many schools no longer offer physical education, so the forty-five minutes of exercise every student used to get has gone by the wayside. And with every chidl texting or on their computers, they get little physical exercise at school or home. Do you hear the government yelling over that? Nope, it's always McDonald's fault or some other fast food chain.
Some schools are even at the point they are checking children's lunches and if they dont' like what they brought from home, it is tossed aside. Massachusetts is doing this now and others are considering it.
This is how the government takes over more and more of our responsibilities. In this case, they are becoming the parents to the children to whom we gave birth.
Did you know that in the health bill is also legislation for the Federal Government to take over all student loans? The extension of this is telling the student they will work where they are sent by the government for a certain number of years - an indentured person.
If the government gets away with that, the next step is to tell students the careers for which they are allowed to study. Does this sound like freedom to you?
That's one of the problem with these massive 2000+ page bills. Like Ms. Pelosi said "vote for it and then find out what's in it". Of course, by that time it can be too late to change it.
Sadly, I don't find the lawsuit funny, because women and men who do this are the front runners for more government regulations.
shucks! I am so sick of stupid people. I know we all do dumb things sometimes. But a little common sense and personal responsibility would go a long way.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
17 Dec 10
I am not a fan of any fast food. But I never cease to be amazed by the ridiculous claims that are made against companies such as McDonalds. I have heard of people suing them because their tea was hot! What the heck is tea supposed to be? If parents cannot refuse their children then it is they that have the problem and not the company. Nobody makes us eat fast food, it is a personal choice. If there wasn't the demand then there'd not be the industry.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
21 Dec 10
Oh absolutely! But the idiots who are behind this whole thing obviously are only working with a couple of brain cells. I fear that as we continue further along the timeline into the future, people will only become stupider and stupider, and while it used to be somewhat entertaining, now it is making me slightly ill.... I'm turning green now.... grab me a puke bucket please!
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Dec 10
Personally I dislike any food item that uses children characters to sell their product. Of course that said, how do you escape it? Product placement is at eye level of a child in every supermarket across the country. I dislike that I cannot simply go to the store to buy a healthy food product without having to see the likes of Dora, Diego, Sponge Bob, Elmo, Marvel Heroes, Scooby, and the gambit of children characters that are used just to sell a product that is no better than something without their face plastered on it.
Do I still give in? Sure. Now and then I do buy my kids McDonald's to get the stupid little toy that will soon be lost in a handful of others. I will say that their recent Transformers toys are actually fairly cool, along with the Hello Kitty watches that really work. And of course Burger King has had ZhuZhu pets so that of course was a hit.
I can say though that the problem with fast food chains, and most marketing tools is that they do catch the child's attention and that is the focus of these lawsuits. It is that instead of being like a few chains that offer "no toy", it is the toy that drives kids crazy to go to these places. It certainly isn't because the food taste good.
In terms of the food, people go because it's addictive. The chemicals in the food, especially HFCS is addictive and it is VERY difficult to get the body to detox from it. So that is why people are "compelled" to continue to go. I hope we continue to see these sorts of suits because perhaps maybe it will gain enough attention to get the chemicals out of our food and return us to a half way healthy country.
Namaste-Anora
1 person likes this
@craigy123456789 (1759)
•
18 Dec 10
I think some people just want to make money out of complaining or they just want to cause companies like this problems. This really is taking it to the extreme. At the end of the day we decide as parents what our children eat, no matter how many times my child may tell me he wants to go there, i am the parent and he is the child, i make the decisions, luckily he is not like that at all. They don't think of how things like this will affect others. Sometimes that is the problem with people like this, they just don't think.
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
24 Dec 10
I don't think they should be allowed to make money by complaining, if they want to complain, fine but I don't think they should be REWARDED for it lol.
Honestly, people who do things like this somehow have some warped view that THEIR opinion is more valuable than others, that THEY know better for other people than other people know (which is always entirely false and should never be entertained), and that they somehow have some sort of right to control anything for others.
I think people who do this should be arrested lol! That would be justice in this matter!
1 person likes this
tell me how you REALLY feel, Dawn...!
@pheonixstar1982 (2307)
• United States
17 Dec 10
I think its a case of parents not wanting to take responsibility for their children, and being sue happy. People really will sue for anything. I want to sue those people just for being stupid. I am on McDonald's side.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
21 Dec 10
If we can sue them just for being stupid, do you want to split the winnings? Errr... the judgement? I hope it's big... what a lovely Christmas present that would be, huh? Actually, aside from the money from the attorneys, I would like them to make me a youtube video APOLOGIZING to McDonalds, which I would then post up for the world to see!!! How heartwarming for us!!
@gdesjardin (1918)
• United States
20 Dec 10
Oh, when I think about the countless meals I have eaten over the years at McDonald's and the countless happy meals the kids have eaten...wow! I can't believe people will sue just for any reason in the world. You are correct, no one is forcing anyone to go to McDonald's or if you kids are forcing you to go, perhaps, people to to check their parenting skills. I have 3 kids, all of whom are teenagers now or older, however we spend one heck of a large portion of their childhood at McDonald's. Yes, the food might not be the best or healthest for kids, however, if you monitor what your children eat, you will be fine. The kids mostly liked the toys or the playground at McDonald's anyways. They also spend a lot of time at Burger King as well...who ever had the best toys. I also have found out that you can purchase the toys if you want and not even touch the food. You can also tell the kids NO, which I have done on numerous occasions. I think parents like to find any reason in the world to sue people and what they don't realize is THEY have the choice, McDonald's is just presenting the choice to you. When you go buy numerous car lots to you feel COMPELLED to purchase a car...NO. We may want one, but that doesn't mean we get our way!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
21 Dec 10
This is actually a discussion that my husband and I have had even though we don't live in the state of California. Neither of us think that it is right that people are suing McDonalds because of the fact that they put toys in their Happy Meals. I don't think that a Happy Meal alone occasionally is going to make a child obese. It is a combination of eating junk food outside the home and also the way that parents feed their children at home that will cause children to be obese. Yes, we tend to eat fast food about once a week but neither of my children are obese because the rest of the time we tend to eat very healthy and balanced meals.
1 person likes this
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
17 Dec 10
Unfortunately we live in a sue happy city where as people will find all and any reason to sue. Seriously no one forces anyone to go to McDonald's and or why not mind their business as to where others take there's. I can understand people giving advice as to what is inappropriate eating habits but to sue. Come on a bit too extreme.
I do not get that the toy is an influence seriously, I think it is ludicrous for any one to come up with this. I mean it is not like they are eating the toy also. Ugh..
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
21 Dec 10
I cannot believe this lawsuit was actually even ACCEPTED. I think it is an absolute WASTE of the court's time, a HUGE waste of money - and I sure as heck hope that NONE of it is being paid for by any taxpayer money, because then I should get to sue for unlawful usage of funds because I do not support sueing over frivolous nothing types of things.
The toys are ONLY an influence if you're the kind of wishy washy weak parent who gives in when your child has a fit. Obviously there are lots of those - with people trying to say 'omg, McDonalds made my kids fat because they demanded toys and happy meals'. There's this little word called 'no'. Try it sometime. Ignore the fits. LOL! The toys are kind of lousy, to be honest, and for me, this is more the principle of the thing than the toys being wonderful.
I just want to ensure nobody will interfere with my ability to get a happy meal with a toy, wherever I happen to go, whatever hour of the day. Otherwise, they'll be countersued for removing my choice due to their own personal issue.
@pastigger (612)
• United States
17 Dec 10
It drives me crazy that these people waste court time with these things. Yes McDonald's uses marking if they didn't they would be broke. They are not the only ones who put toys in their kid's meal, the do usually have the best ones. It is my choice if I eat a happy meal or if my child does. I have eaten happy meals in the past for the toy and would do it again. It is good for me less food my child gets two toys and then we can play together. I like my toy in my happy meal and if you don't then don't buy it. I totally agree that the kids are not the ones in charge, not if some parents would figure that out we would be doing a little better. Guess what you can tell a child NO and they can cry and they will not be scared for life because of it. I say Leave my happy meal toy alone it makes me Happy!
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
21 Dec 10
Yep! They are called happy meals because they make ME happy too! There are times when I get one too - because I can, nobody claims an age limit on happy meals! LOL
I did wish sometimes that i could get a kids meal from other places - not just because they are cheaper but because they are actually the right amount of food. Some restaurants give you a plate that's probably 2200 calories and you can't even eat half of it - but their kids' menu says 'only up to age 10' or 'age 12'. I wonder why... I mean what if someone is consciously watching their portion sizes or something? LOL!
