Did you read that news blurb today about the mini McDonald's study they did to prove the effect of marketing on kids? When given carrots wrapped in McDonald's wrap and plain-packaged carrots, the 3-5 year olds jumped to eat the carrots in the McDonald's wrap. They overwhelmingly chose to eat the burgers wrapped in McDonald's wrap over the burgers.
This study emphasized, once again, the impact of advertising on our children. And trust me, we are total prey to it in our household-- I think we have already created McDonald's addicts. Jared's first sign of literate behavior was identifying the Golden Arches. I am embarrassed by the fact that my kids can identify a picture of Ronald McDonald, but not George W. Bush. I wish that the US Dept. of Agriculture had the same advertising budget as McDonald's because I am sure I wouldn't have a problem getting my kids to eat brussel sprouts if they were inundated with cool commercials about them.
I know that I am the one who is ultimately responsible for what my kids eat and the advertising they are exposed to so I am not passing the blame. It has been 9 days since we last ate at a place that offers a kids meal with a toy and I will aim to go for another week. I guess we will go into Happy Meal Detox for a while until we can handle it responsibly.
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I was laughing so hard at this. I did read this article and I was not shocked. My kids will eat anything from McDonalds and I think my running time is 5 days and counting...
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