McDonald’s and Disney Still Friends

Even though McDonald’s and Disney announced that they were ending their long-running Happy Meal partnership in 2006 (for more details read this), McDonald’s current Happy Meal promotion proves that they obviously kept each other’s phone numbers. 

Until the 10th of April, Disney Princess and Pirates of the Caribbean toys are available at McDonald’s.

Disney stated in 2006 that despite their contract ending with McDonald’s, they “look forward to a more flexible, non-exclusive relationship” where they will work with them every now and then. Let’s hope more often than not. 

Current Promotions (Issue One)

Some noteworthy promotions currently going on at fast food places:

Fans of Spongebob Squarepants can thank Burger King once more for releasing another awesome set of Spongebob Squarepants toys.  These Wild West themed Spongebob toys are being issued by Burger King to promote the new Spongebob movie “Pest of the West” airing on Nickelodeon on April 11, 2008.  Collect all 8!

If you head on over to Hardee’s, you can get your hands on four fun “Bee Movie” toys.  These toys are to promote the “Bee Movie” being released on DVD.

Of course, if you want your toys to come with that all-important interactive factor, look no further than your local Sonic.  Sonic currently has a set of toys called Bionics – neat gadgets.  Collect all five!

Barbie or Hot Wheels???

Who knew that a simple question could cause quite a ruckus?  I’m not referring to the question of “Barbie or Hot Wheels?” here, rather the question of “Is it for a boy or for a girl?”  It turns out that many people are asked “Is it for a boy or for a girl?” in McDonald’s all over America when ordering Happy Meals and many are outraged because they feel the question is downright sexist.  Every now and then, McDonald’s Happy Meal comes with either a Barbie toy or a Hot Wheels toy and who’s to say that a Barbie toy is strictly for girls and a Hot Wheels toy is strictly for boys?  Beats the hell out of me!  I’m not in the mood to get into a debate, but I am interested in finding out where McDonald’s stands on this issue.

It turns out that when people take their complaints to McDonald’s, whether via e-mail or in person, McDonald’s representatives always (a) apologize for the way their employees handled the situation and (b) assure that this is not the way they train their employees in dealing with Happy Meal toys. 

It so happens that I have a good friend who works at a McDonald’s and when I told her all this juicy gossip, she immediately shot me a look and said “They don’t train us!”  She told me that all they do is tell them what the current promotion is and that’s it.  I asked her how she asks customers what toy they want and she told me that she asks “Is it for a boy or for a girl?” and that she never even thought twice about it.  All her co-workers do the same thing.  She then relayed to me that there’s been several occasions where she’ll have a parent ask for a Barbie toy for their daughter and the daughter asks for a Hot Wheels car instead.

As long as McDonald’s continues to have “Barbie or Hot Wheels” Happy Meals, there will always be controversy over it.  Personally I don’t care for either sets of toys.  Give me Disney characters any day!

Bonjour

I thought I’d kick the I Love Fast Food Toys blog off by saying hello (in French) and welcoming everyone.

This blog is an extension of my website www.i-love-fast-food-toys.com.

In addition to the I Love Fast Food Toys site, I wanted a place where I can post fast food toys related stuff.  This blog will serve that purpose and I want it to go hand in hand with the website. I hope you’ll check both the site and this blog regularly. Thank you!