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Can Happy Be Healthy?

3/19/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

It can be hard to remember what we ate for lunch yesterday, let alone when we were kids, but many of us can recall the unique childhood experience of a Happy Meal.  Children may like McDonald’s food, but for most it’s all about the toy tucked inside the red and yellow box.  So, why does the fast food icon want to tinker with a nearly 40-year-old recipe that’s been as golden as its arches?
 
Happy Meals were the brainchild of McDonald’s St. Louis regional advertising manager Dick Brams.  When the kid-focused combo first hit the market in 1979, each box contained a burger, fries, cookies, soda, and a toy like a “McWrist” wallet or a “McDoodler” stencil.  While the toys regularly varied, the food remained pretty much fixed until 1983, when chicken nuggets became an entrée option.
 
One of the biggest Happy Meal happenings took place in 1987, when McDonald’s began partnering with Disney.  Well over a hundred different Disney characters have since appeared inside the boxes, including Mickey, Aladdin, and Nemo.  Moreover, this commercial collaboration opened the floodgates for all manner of other cobranding with the likes of Legos, Transformers, Hello Kitty, and one of the most popular product premiums ever: Ty Teenie Beanie Babies.  The small, squishy creatures first appeared in 1997 and were reprised in 2009 for the Happy Meal’s 25th anniversary.
 
Fast-forward to the present and perhaps the biggest Happy Meal change ever: McDonald’s has decided to remove cheeseburgers from the Happy Meal menu.  Why would the company with a name that’s synonymous with burgers and renown for “billions and billions served” make a move analogous to Dunkin’ ditching donuts or Little Caesar’s shelving pizza?  It’s all about trying to be healthier.
 
Most of us recognize that Happy Meals aren’t the most nutrition things kids could be eating.  To put McDonald’s dilemma into perspective, a cheeseburger Happy Meal with small fries and a 1% chocolate milk has 700 calories, 27 g of fat, and 1,060 mg of sodium.  Those are high levels for young children who are the primary consumers of happy meals and who need as few as 1,000 calories per day.
 
So, as the biggest restaurant chain in the U.S. by revenue (over $36 billion), McDonald’s is a natural target for concerns about childhood obesity, which has become a national epidemic.  The Obesity Action Coalition states: “Pediatric overweight and obesity now affects more than 30 percent of children, making it the most common chronic disease of childhood.”  Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that fast food consumption “has been linked to weight gain in adults” and is “associated with higher caloric intake and poorer diet quality in children.”
 
Not surprising, this isn’t the first time McDonald’s has moved toward healthier Happy Meal options.  In the early 2000s, the company introduced juice boxes, 1% milk, and apples with low-fat caramel dip.  It reduced the size of Happy Meal fries to 1.1 ounces in 2011 and announced plans to limit added sodium and sugar in certain other items.  In 2013, McDonald’s promised to more seriously promote sides of fruits and vegetables and to change the default beverage option from soda.  The company also introduced a new brand of lower-sugar orange juice last fall.
 
As part of the latest round of Happy Meal makeovers, McDonald’s plans to serve a smaller size of fries with the six-piece Chicken McNuggets, make bottled water a featured beverage option, and reduce the added-sugar in its chocolate milk.  Cheeseburgers will no longer be among listed Happy Meal options; however, customers will still be able to receive them upon request.
 
All of these changes are part of the company’s longer-term goal, which is to have at least half of all Happy Meals come in under 600 calories, with less than 10% of those calories from saturated fat or added sugar, and with under 650 mg of sodium.
 
Some people with unique insight into health-related matters believe McDonald’s plan is a good one:
 
“We think McDonald’s is raising the bar,” said Howell Wechsler, the chief executive of Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which advised the chain on the menu changes.
 
“This is an important step in the right direction,” commented Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association.
 
There is some precedent for such changes having a positive impact.  McDonald’s reports that orders of soda fell by 14% after the item was removed from the Happy Meal menu.  Meanwhile, the chain saw a corresponding increase in meals purchased with water, juice, or milk.
 
McDonald’s actions also appear to influence its competitors.  Burger King, Dairy Queen, and Wendy’s followed McDonald’s lead by replacing soda as the default drink in their kids’ meals.  McDonald’s reportedly receives more business from families with children than does the competition, but its peer impact is certainly not negligible.
 
Not everyone, however, is happy about the Happy Meal changes.  Corporate Accountability, a national nonprofit and frequent critic of the restaurant chain maintains that a 600-calorie meal is still more than many young children need.  Furthermore, spokesperson Alexa Kaczmarski suggests that McDonald’s actions are simply aimed at getting kids addicted to junk food for life.
 
New York University professor of food studies Marion Nestle offers a more moderate but still critical analysis of the restaurant’s moves, calling them “tweaking” and saying “it’s hard to convert junk foods to health foods in any meaningful way.”
 
Jennifer Harris of the University of Connecticut's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity echoes these concerns as she describes the reality of what often occurs inside a fast food restaurant:
 
“If you're in a restaurant and your child smells french fries and sees the soda, it’s very difficult for kids to get the healthier choices . . . If you're a parent, do you risk having a meltdown or do you get your child what’s most appealing to them?"
 
Harris’ point is a compelling one:  It’s one thing to offer healthy options, it’s another thing for a target market of kids, with understandably few health concerns, to choose such options, especially when all kinds of other food looks and smells more appealing.    
 
Add onto that temptation the likelihood that the children’s parents aren’t eating very healthily either.  Sure, some people go to McDonald’s and order salads, but the vast majority of parents probably sit across the table from their kids eating their own Quarter Pounder with Cheese and fries.  So, even if dad orders chicken nuggets and a side of apple slices for Junior, Junior is already planning what he’ll eat when he’s old enough to order for himself.
 
People will always want some indulgences, but given trends toward healthy eating and better-quality options, the long-term future of fast food doesn’t look particularly promising.  As I interact with members of Generation Z, most tell me they’d definitely prefer to eat at Panera or Chipotle, rather than the typical fast food restaurant.  That preference doesn’t bode well for McDonald’s now, and it’s not likely to get better over the coming 5-15 years, as this next generation of young parents will have even less motivation to buy their kids Happy Meals.
 
McDonald’s is, in many ways, trying to chart a new path.  That’s a tall order, however, even for one of the world’s most successful companies when its brand has been tied for so long to largely unhealthy food.  I’m glad that McDonald’s continues to make menu changes, especially ones that may positively affect children.  Unfortunately, it’s doubtful that the net impact will be proportionate to the company’s influence.  It’s a tough call, but healthier Happy Meals still seem like “Simple-Minded Marketing.”

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Women: No Longer Auto Accessories

3/4/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

People love auto shows: the stylish bodies, the sleek lines, the alluring curves.  While those descriptions fit the latest concept cars, they also work for the scantily dressed women seen standing next to them.  Almost as long as there have been automobiles, companies have used attractive young women to help sell their vehicles.  Some organizations, however, have taken a bold step to separate sex appeal from automotive appeal.

A variety of media, from calendars to TV commercials, couple women wearing suggestive attire with cars.  The rationale for these pairings is that sex sells; i.e., certain companies believe that they can gain interest in their autos’ bodies by leveraging the natural allure of the human body. 
 
Over the years, auto shows have been notorious for their use of highly-sexualized female models: Poised next to a manufacturer’s hot new car are one or more attractive young women, often sporting stilettos and wearing tight-fitting dresses with low necklines and high hemlines.
 
However, use of women as commercial eye-candy isn’t unique to automobiles.  A variety of other industries like video gaming and consumer electronics employ ladies at tradeshows in the same sultry capacity.  In fact, there’s even a belittling name for the women: “booth babes.”  TMS Agency, a modeling firm with locations in virtually every state, specializes in such talent, describing the women’s function as follows:

“A booth babe is a female model hired to staff a booth at a trade show. The term implies a girl who is focusing more on her physical attributes to entice customers rather than her intellect to represent a company. Booth babe is also slang for a booth girl.  Booth babes serve two purposes: 1. Attract attention to your exhibit due to their looks; 2. Assist with activities and demonstrate products”
 
It’s not hard to find women serving this primeval purpose at some of the world’s largest and most renown auto exhibitions like the Paris Motor Show and the North American International Auto Show.  However, visitors to another major auto exhibition will no longer be exposed to the practice.
 
In its 88th year, the Geneva International Motor Show has hosted more than its fair share of booth babes.  Just last year, for instance, Lexus, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo used attractive young women, outfitted in evocative attire, to help draw attention to their respective automotive entries.  It appears, however, that this March in Geneva will be different.
 
Fortune reports that many of the exhibitors at this year’s show will not be bringing both babes.  Some companies, like Lexus, won’t have any people accompany their cars.  Other manufacturers, such as Fiat Chrysler, will use both men and women, outfitted in more conservative attire.
 
What’s caused the sudden change of heart for so many automobile manufacturers?  Some cite the recent rise in cases of sexual harassment and a desire not to get caught on the wrong side of the #MeToo movement.  Switzerland-based Nissan spokeswoman Sara Jenkins frames her firm’s decision in a straightforward, positive light: “It makes more sense to use product specialists because we’re selling cars.”
 
Anyone in marketing should appreciate Jenkins’ rationale—If your company is selling a product, particularly a complex and expensive one like a car, you want people who can talk intelligently about the vehicle’s features and benefits.  That’s one of the top requirements for effective personal selling.
 
But, why not have both?  Certainly, there are individuals who are very attractive and very smart.  Why don’t automobile manufacturers hire them to wear skimpy clothes and work their tradeshows?  One reason is that smart, hard-working people aren’t as easily enticed, and they know they have options other than putting their bodies on display.
 
Hopefully these car companies also realize what they’ve been doing to the women they’ve had on exhibit for so many years.  The manufacturers have relegated these young women to human hood ornaments—items to ogle and awe at, like the masses of metal they’re posed to adorn.  Just as the car companies have minimized the models’ attire, they’ve stripped away each woman’s personhood.
 
Unfortunately, that sexual objectification doesn’t only impact the models who participate in the tradeshows.  It affects all people indirectly.  The more we see women, or men, treated as objects, the more likely we are to think that such representations are normative, i.e., to believe that they’re okay.
 
Ironically, while reading the aforementioned Fortune article, an ad appeared on the side of my screen titled “Dream Big, Princess.”  The link connects to Disney’s website where a 90- second video highlights many of the company’s animated heroines, interspersed with clips of young women today engaged in adventurous activities.  The promotional piece encourages girls to become things like teachers, politicians, preachers, astronauts, and leaders.  Of course, there’s no charge to grow up to be a booth babe.
 
Automobile manufacturers might not be banishing booth babes because of social conscience, but at least they're banishing them.  Our world’s women and men will be better off as a result.  The car companies also should be more successful in the long run, especially when targeting market segments that are increasingly and rightly appalled by the primitive practice.  Showing people genuine respect will always be a foundation for “Mindful Marketing.” 


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