Santa Clara County’s board of supervisors despondently voted 3-2 yesterday to ban toys in Californian restaurant meals marketed to kids that exceed a certain amount of calories. The purpose, said the measure’s sponsor, is to fight obesity. Get it? They’re banning toys for kids…for the children. Given the twisted logic of obesity crusaders, perhaps it was only a matter of time.
Of course, it’s hard to see how this directly fights obesity. As our senior research analyst points out on Fox Philadelphia last night, it’s not as if your 6-year-old drives to a fast-food joint to buy a kids’ meal.
In essence, this county measure is a slap in the face to parents. It accuses moms and dads of being unable to responsibly buy food for their kids.
But guess who appears happy at the depressing move by Santa Clara County? You got it—master manipulator MeMe Roth and the killjoys at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). When this proposal was first floated last month, a spokeswoman from CSPI said that a toy ban was “on our list of promising policy options” and also claims today that CSPI's research says most kids’ meals are “unhealthy.” (“Unhealthy” is a label CSPI seems to give to anything but steamed kale, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes. Not exactly the happiest of meals.)
Most residents of Santa Clara County think this is bogus as well. A poll reveals that 80 percent of residents think that banning toys in kids’ meals isn’t an important issue. Who knows—maybe the next county proposal will be to force kids to finish their vegetables before they're allowed dessert.