Controversy over the retention of toys for fast food childre

In fast food culture, the small toys included with children's meals have always been a major attraction for consumers. However, a series of recent measures in the fast food industry around children's meal toys have sparked widespread attention and discussion.

Toy craze: the charm of fast food and IP linkage

Whether it's KFC or McDonald's children's meals, toys often become the main driving force for people to purchase, not only loved by children, but also by many adults. Fast food brands cleverly combine toys with current popular IPs, such as launching a series of character toys like "The Lion King" and "Super Mario", and only receive one of the current season's toys per purchase. This marketing strategy encourages fans to constantly visit and collect the entire set, successfully increasing customer repurchase rates.

McDonald's is arguably the world's largest toy distributor, exporting up to 1.5 billion toys annually through its 35000 stores worldwide. Recently, McDonald's limited release of the "Useless Use" series of toys in China has made it to the hot search list with its unique creativity. Although internet users jokingly call them "useless", the diving platform and French fry fork still attract many fans to buy them due to their fun and topicality.

'Abandoning Plastic' Action: Environmental Initiative Triggering Change in Fast Food Giants

While toys are highly sought after, fast food giants have sparked a wave of "plastic waste" in the UK. In July of this year, two children in the UK, Ella and Caitlin Wood, aged 7 and 9 respectively, spoke out on a public welfare petition website, pointing out that plastic toys in children's meals are mostly discarded after playing for a few minutes, causing harm to the environment, and calling on McDonald's and Burger King to stop providing such toys. This petition quickly gained support from over 400000 people.

McDonald's responded positively, first stating on Twitter that they have started to address the issue and announced that over the next six months in the UK, Happy Meal event toys will increasingly use board games, books, and soft toys, while reducing the number of hard plastic toys by nearly 60%. Starting from October, some stores in the UK and Ireland will allow customers to replace children's set toys with fruit bags, and there are plans to offer complimentary books as another option early next year. If plastic toys, straws, and cup lids are removed, 1005 tons of waste can be reduced annually.

Burger King announced on September 19th that it will stop distributing plastic toys for children's meals and implement special measures for customers to return free gifts, aiming to curb white pollution. This action is expected to reduce plastic usage by about 320 tons per year. At the same time, Burger King has launched a "melt toys" campaign, encouraging children to bring their old plastic toys back to over 500 restaurants across the UK for recycling. Those who return them within a certain period of time will receive a free King Junior package. In addition, Burger King has launched a "pardon campaign" to accept plastic toys gifted by other brands for the purpose of renovating store play areas or making special trays.

Domestic attitude: Over 70% of netizens support the 'plastic waste' action

Domestic netizens have different attitudes towards the "plastic abandonment" measures of fast food brands on children's meal toys. As of the time of writing, the investigation initiated by Sina News has attracted 23000 participants. The voting results showed that 17000 people (74%) expressed support, believing that this action is beneficial to environmental protection; 1516 people expressed opposition; 3412 people said it doesn't matter. Some netizens have suggested that while advocating for reducing plastic, alternative options should be provided to preserve the fun of children's meals, such as limited time free downloads of electronic games or the release of edible toys.

The retention of fast food children's meal toys reflects the game between consumer preferences and environmental protection needs. In the future, it is worth continuing to pay attention to how the fast food industry can find a balance between meeting consumer needs and fulfilling environmental responsibilities.