KFC Australia pulls toys from kids meals
KFC Australia will no longer provide toys with its kids meals, a move which it claims to be a first for the Quick Service Restaurant industry in the country.
Zac Rich, KFC’s corporate affairs manager said it was time to move on from the concept.
“For three years now, KFC has taken a very clear position to not advertise or actively promote our childrenʼs meals but this is the next step in removing so-called pester power at our stores altogether,” he said.
The 600+ KFC stores have been briefed that toy stocks will not be replenished with some already exhausted.
And parents who for some reason find it impossible to say the word ‘no’ to their offspring, rejoice.
One can react to an announcement like this with equal measures of cynicism and enthusiasm. However I choose to view KFC’s Zac Rich’s rhetoric today as displaying a shift in the attitude that fast food companies have held steadfast for the past decade or so of public pressure to reform.
KFC have stopped wasting time defending the ‘old regime’, and have made some refreshing progress instead. Removing the toy strips away the emotional value of the kids’ meal so that the food can just be food – no longer a fun time, a reward, or a vehicle for collecting the set of toys.
It is interesting to contrast Rich’s quote:
“We hope this decision today will support parents in making dietary decisions on behalf of their children which aren’t influenced in any way by pressure to choose the meal that has a toy.”
…with McDonald’s which this year is celebrating its birthday with the slogan “40 years of fun”.
One is continually justifying itself along the lines of ‘fun’, the other is hinting at a more common sense approach that food should just be food.
Perhaps a series of ‘little changes’ in attitude over time could see the end of ‘kids meals’ all together…in, like, another 40 years??
There goes the nutritional bit.
Convenient way to cut costs, increase profit margins under the guise of helping mums and dads…
Seriously if you have ever been to a KFC and purchased a kids meal you’ll know that the quality of the toys strongly suggested that KFC were being paid to take them off the hands of the suppliers – so no cost cutting there …..but the added benefit of a slight reduction in landfill !!
Marketing to children is moving beyond the toys but to see that KFC is not engaging in any activity aimed at kids [with the exception of their kids meals] is great