McDonald's Outsmarts San Francisco On Happy Meal Toy Ban
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- McDonald's restaurants in San Francisco have now found a way to get around a city law that takes effect on Thursday that bans free toy giveaways with Happy Meals.
McDonald's 19 locations in the city will allow customers to request that the toys be added to their Happy Meals for a separate charge of only 10 cents.
"While we will fully comply with this law, we also have a responsibility to give our customers what they want. Parents have told us they'd still like the option of purchasing a toy separately for their child when they buy them a Happy Meal," Danya Proud, a spokesperson for McDonald's USA, said in a statement sent to CBS San Francisco.
San Francisco last year became the first major U.S. city to prohibit fast-food restaurants from including toys with children's meals that don't meet certain nutritional guidelines.
"While McDonald's has made positive changes to the Happy Meal that customers approve of, the ordinance includes very strict requirements that the new Happy Meals don't meet," Proud told CBS SF.
KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:
The company said the dime toy charge complies with the "letter of the law," because it makes the toy a separate purchase from that of the Happy Meal.
The money from the toy sales will all be donated to the Ronald McDonald House children's charity.
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All rights reserved.)
