Suing seems to be the way to go for years. If you don't like something, you simply take someone to court and get them to change a product, change a way of doing something.
Suing can also be an easy way out of something. If you are having a difficult time quitting smoking, you find a lawyer who will tell you it's alright. It's not your fault you started smoking. It's not your fault you continued to smoke before you got addicted to the point you needed to light a cigarette before you did anything else on a given day.
Lawsuits are now seeking to protect a new breed of victim: the overweight. Unbeknownst to people like me, there is someone besides the one in the mirror to blame for not cutting back on portions or refusing to do a few sit-ups or push-ups during a commercial break.
Meet the fast food industry, a new culprit in the litigation-happy, justice-seeking world we live in. Thanks to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), McDonald's will finally be held accountable for, "using toys to lure small children into McDonald's."
Do you think I'm making this up? Read the press release for yourself. It goes on to call McDonald's "the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children".
Give me a break.
Blaming an industry for the physical decline of a nation is one thing. The CSPI is practically comparing McDonald's to an old lady living in a house made of candy.
What if a judge allows this case to make it to trial? What happens next? Will Hershey's be the next on the dockett? Will the Candyman join Ronald McDonald and Tony the Tiger as the Triumvirate of Tubbiness.
It's not just McDonald's who uses toys to boost their business. Cereals have been doing it for years. Buy a box of Sugar Yums. There's a free toy waiting at the bottom.
Does the CSPI dare go after the thugs at General Millls and Kellogg's? That's a slippery slope. There is an outcry over the future world leaders missing out on the most important meal of the day. Attacking these companies could be counter-productive.
Children are enticed by the burgers and fries that are available at McDonald's and the other fast-food restaurants. To me, the toy was always a little bonus instead of a reason to stop by the Golden Arches. Blaming a corporation for selling a toy with a meal is not the way to combat obesity. Accusing them of a "creepy and predatory practice" (Yes. They said that too) does little for a company's credibility. I hope people will use common sense before going in with legal guns blazing. I hope people realize things like fried foods are not to become habits.
