McDonald's recalling 12 million Shrek glasses due to cadmium on the surface is the most dangerous connection between the restaurant chain and an animated movie.
However, the commercials for the animated movie, er, McDonald's had already reached a new low. Offering up a casual link between cartoons and fast food is already bad enough.
This connection feels more tied into the food, as if children can't already enjoy processed chicken unless very familiar cartoon characters are standing around.
Fast food marketing to children have been prevalent for some time. After all, the two top hamburger chains in the country incorporate some form of painted up clown-like figures. But showing a direct correlation between the actual food and the animated characters — this feels like a much worse violation than the normally low standards we have in the United States.
Sometimes we forget how susceptible children are to the influence of cartoons. Yet fast food companies and other corporations — not with children's best interests at heart — seem to remember just fine.
The irony of using Shrek to sell fast food is not lost. Looks like Shrek has eaten his fair share of McDonald's fare. It's not as likely that Donkey, Princess Fiona, and Puss in Boots eat too much of the food and still maintain their cartoonish figures.
Shame goes to McDonald's and DreamWorks for their egregious oversell. If fast food restaurants maintain they can't survive without exploiting children — and they might be right about that — then at least keep the cartoon characters away from the food. It's sad when such a small basically decent request is so huge.
Cadmium is a known carcinogen that can cause bone softening and severe kidney problems. But let's not ignore the other ramifications of this deal.
i don't know. i always do McD's but i see nothing wrong with the product.
Posted by: Medical Advice | June 10, 2010 at 01:36 PM