The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is demanding that McDonald’s immediately stop advertising on children’s report cards.
Last week, students in Seminole County, Florida received their report cards in envelopes adorned with Ronald McDonald promising a free Happy Meal to students with good grades, behavior, or attendance.
“This promotion takes in-school marketing to a new low,” said Susan Linn, director of CCFC and a psychologist at Judge Baker Children’s Center. “It bypasses parents and targets children directly with the message that doing well in school should be rewarded by a Happy Meal.”
The advertisement appears on report cards envelopes for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The envelopes are used to transport report cards to and from home throughout the school year.
Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood is a
national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and concerned parents who counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration. We support the rights of children to grow up – and the rights of parents to raise them – without being undermined by rampant commercialism.
