Eight ways to thwart McNagging and take control of fast-food spending

I like McDonald's.  It's not a staple in my diet, but in a pinch it serves a predictable meal that tastes pretty good at a reasonable price.  I also have fond memories of it from childhood.  We didn't go there often (maybe once every few months), but we usually made it there for lunch on the last day of school.  I'd get a Filet-O-Fish Happy Meal, and I'd be happier than a tornado in a trailer park.

Which is why I'm in a bit of disbelief that McDonald's is being sued for marketing the very same Happy Meal that I knew and loved as a child.  It's a shame to see lawsuits that shift responsibility from ourselves at the expense of more regulation and less freedom of choice.  We're a country of victims, apparently.

The basis of this lawsuit centers around McDonald's marketing directly to children with toys — exploiting their developing cognitive ability —  to “lure” them to McDonald's to eat unhealthy food.  I have a few questions.  First, what successful company doesn't try to bring customers into their business by targeting them?  The better you target your desired audience, the better response you get for the marketing dollars you spend, and the more money you make.  This isn't unique to McDonald's.  Second, how did the children find out about the toys in the first place?  One of their friends might already have the toy, but they likely saw a commercial for McDonald's, probably several times.  That doesn't come into the house by itself.  It comes in with parental permission, or with the absence of parental veto, which is the same thing.  Third, how do kids get to McDonald's?  Do they drive themselves there?  Of course not: an adult drives them there.  A child might want to go to McDonald's, but they can't actually get there without help.  If they do get there, it's with parental permission, or with the parent throwing his/her hands up in defeat and giving in — which, again, is the same thing.

The mother who's pushing for this lawsuit is fed up with telling her children “no” to repeated requests like this, and points a finger at McDonald's for making it that much harder.  Well, gee, too bad!  That's part of being a parent.  (And yes, I am one.)  It's up to the parent to say “no.”  It's up to the parent to control what TV shows (if any) the children watch, and how much.  If the child can't yet recognize the very powerful marketing forces that will sway their spending decisions for the rest of their lives, then it's up to the parent to act as a buffer. I resent having my freedom of choice taken away, and seeing business weighed down with yet another rule that makes it that much harder for them to provide jobs to people who want to work, for the sake of offloading a part of parental responsibility to the state.  It's a slippery slope to start down.

Now that I've made the case for dealing with McNagging ourselves … how do we do it?

• Say “no.” It's worked for … I don't know … thousands of years of parenting?  The buck stops with the parent.  If the nagging continues, up the ante and say that there will be other consequences if the nagging continues.  It's not fun, but then again, parenting isn't always fun, and it shouldn't be if you really truly love your kids.
• If the child has an allowance, let them spend it. A former colleague of mine bought a coin soda machine with the intent of limiting his kids' soda intake.  (“You want a soda?  That's fine.  The machine accepts quarters.”)  If they're nagging about getting a toy at McDonald's, then you can allow them to get it, provided they pay for it. It empowers them in the process, and also lets them see the cost.  We give our daughter a weekly allowance, and she already gets this idea.
• Limit the exposure to the temptation. This is a variation of saying “no” but if the Happy Meal commercials are fewer, the nagging will be less.  We hardly watch any network TV as a family, so we don't see a lot of the ads anyway, but if you do, then pay attention to the ads to see just how much your kids are seeing.
• Do they want the food, or the toy? For McDonald's, the toy is the hook that is used to sell the food.  But if the child just wants the toy, then you can …
• Offer alternatives that have better value. The Happy Meal toys are fun, but they're cheap.  If the child is genuinely interested in a particular movie that you all like, then you can (responsibly) steer them toward options that provide better value for the money.
• Teach your kids to recognize commercials. Make a game out of it:  If the child recognizes all of the commercials in a half-hour TV show, they get a treat.  Once the child knows what to look for, you can explain why they're there and what their purpose is.  (They of course bring in revenue for the networks, but the child needs to get the idea that “commercials try to get them to buy something.”)
• Reinforce positive behavior. Letting children know that you're proud of how they're handling their impulses works, too.
• Treat going to McDonald's as a special occasion. Getting back to the beginning of this post, we only went to McDonald's once in a great while.  And it was a treat to go there.  I don't recall nagging to go there much.  Maybe it was because it wasn't routine.

Any other ideas?  I'd love to hear them in the comments.