Ronald McDonald Is Back, Hungry for the Blood of Young Children
A year after a corporate watchdog group filed a lawsuit against McDonald's to get rid of its "deep-fried Joe Camel for the 21st century," Ronald McDonald is returning to the television sets of America to peddle french fries to children.
Pray for us, children.
Nation's Restaurant News reports that the clown will star in a series of new Happy Meal commercials on the Cartoon Network, Disney XD, and Nickelodeon. The commercials will encourage kids to go to a Happy Meal website where they can send videos, or "Ronaldgrams," of themselves to their friends and family.
McDonald's is insisting that the website is full of useful content: There are "fun videos that encourage eating more fruit and vegetables," neither of which can typically be found in an actual Happy Meal, and family-oriented "safety quizzes" that presumably don't warn children to stay away from bewigged strangers wearing giant shoes and face paint. Another video McDonald's should probably include on its site? Slate's recent look at obesity surgery for kids.
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