McDonald's Ditches Soda In Happy Meal Menus

Oh, really so they will be substituting soda with something more unhealthy and fattening.. i suppose that is their strategy

You can still order a soda with the Happy Meal, they are just changing what they offer that comes with it. If you want to get a soda with it.....order it. People get all worked up over nothing......

If they really wanted the kids to "drink" healthier, they wouldn't do an up charge for milk. My daughter and son always asked for chocolate milk when we would treat out to McDonalds. Before we knew it there was an upcharge if they selected anything other than the soda. We paid it, but it was irritating.

I'm all for moderation. I had friends that were never allowed "bad" food or drinks when they were growing up and they went hog wild in college. If we teach our kids how to eat "healthy" most of the time but that it's okay to have treats every now and then as long, I believe they will be better for it when they get older.

If they really wanted the kids to "drink" healthier, they wouldn't do an up charge for milk. My daughter and son always asked for chocolate milk when we would treat out to McDonalds. Before we knew it there was an upcharge if they selected anything other than the soda. We paid it, but it was irritating.

I'm all for moderation. I had friends that were never allowed "bad" food or drinks when they were growing up and they went hog wild in college. If we teach our kids how to eat "healthy" most of the time but that it's okay to have treats every now and then as long, I believe they will be better for it when they get older.

My kids have McDonalds every Sunday on the way home from church. There is no upcharge for milk, or even chocolate milk, because it is offered as an option. I have never been offered soda with a kids meal.

All of that aside, let's be honest and admit that we are not taking our kids to McDonalds for a healthy meal. It is a treat, (and yes, going out to a restaurant is the treat rather than "rewarding with food") and not an everyday event in a healthy diet.

My kids are 6 and 9 and they absolutely hate soda. They think it is an "adult" drink because my husband drinks it. I know this isn't really addressing the topic. If I take my kids to a party and all they have is soda my kids will choose water. They like juice, milk, or chocolate milk. So, just saying that soda is not experienced universally as a "treat" to kids. My kids would think I was torturing them if I made them drink soda, they would cry. Maybe it's genetic (joking) because I don't like soda either, but I don't hate it the way they do.

But, with that said sometimes we get a soda with their happy meal, and my husband drinks the soda.

thank you mcdonalds for parenting me again.

"You can still order a soda with the Happy Meal, they are just changing what they offer that comes with it. If you want to get a soda with it.....order it. People get all worked up over nothing......"




I agree with TripleJ3. The point of this is to try to get kids excited about eating healthier options. It's sort of the same reason why they stopped using a cartoon camel to represent Camel cigarettes. They are trying to persuade kids into making better choices. As we all know, kids are very easily influenced. I think it's great, honestly. There's nothing wrong with this. It might be too late for older kids that have been living their lives on soda "treats" from McD's but what about all the new toddlers coming up? Maybe we can start instilling healthier choices in newer generations. I'm all for it.

Soda make you fat.
If u think im a joke, or not real, imagine Im euro style. Turns out its a fact idiot,
im croatia, now at north america. So my tastes, info, and thoughts have backing. Enjoy life my man.

Um ... what?

They will test it out in a few stores and see what type of reaction they get. My guess is that we will not see the change in most markets. Soda is a huge profit generator.

You can still order a soda with the Happy Meal, they are just changing what they offer that comes with it. If you want to get a soda with it.....order it. People get all worked up over nothing......

This ^^^^^ was my 1st thought reading the OP. McD's gets bonus points for 'removing soda from the Happy Menu options. That doesn't mean you can't order it. McD's would never remove the OPTION for their most profitable items.... soda and fries, from the menu, entirely. That would just be stupid of them.

I really think McDonald's is an amazing American success story. And they didn't become one by making hasty, poorly thought-out business decisions. They've done their number crunching. I have my qualms about medical associations and politically-linked not-for-profits getting involved, but McDonald's answers to its shareholders, ultimately. There is mostly upside to this decision, from a business standpoint.

You'll still be able to get a soda and fries with your Happy Meal, so it's not like parents and their angry kids are going to be picketing in the drive-thru. But if their menu gets standardized on the "healthy" end of the spectrum (i.e. milk/juice and salad, as opposed to soda and fries) they can charge more (even if their margins are the same, the average McDonald's customer thinks healthy food costs more and will have little internal struggle with forking over a few more cents), and they won't give you a discount if you decide to go rogue and ask for a Coke and fries. Plus, there probably are a lot of helicopter parents out there who will be more likely to take their kids to McDonald's because of this change in policy.

I would say they are unlikely to lose money from this move, but if they do, well, the value of a publicly-traded company is reflected in its stock price. Won't take long for them to go back to singing the old tune.

Part of turning back the dial on the way this country's state of health is gone is making sure that access to unhealthy food is reduced, forcing parents to ask for a soda with their Happy Meal is a small, but actually effective, step in that direction. The fact that a Happy Meal de facto came with a soda was moronic, no meal fed to a child should ever "come" with a soda.

In fact, I'm in general all for forcing parents to feed their children healthy. People ***** and whine all the time about their choices being taken away, when the simple fact of the matter is that your child has absolutely no choice in what he or she eats, they eat what you and other adults give them, feeding your children unhealthy, sweet, nasty food, even as an occasional "treat" is borderline child abuse. It has never been your child's choice, it has purely been yours.
It's easy to think it's harmless when they're six and chubby, but it's going to be harder to face when they're older, overweight, suffering from health problems they shouldn't have, and struggling to change their diet while suffering with body perception issues.

So yes, force parents to actually request the damn soda instead of just handing it out with a meal supposedly meant for children. The rest of the contents of a Happy Meal aren't much better, but honestly, small steps matter.

Here, think of it like this. Say you drink three cans of a soda a day (a common habit for kids and teenagers, and even some adults), now keep your diet the same, even if the rest of your diet is relatively unhealthy, but replace each can of soda with a glass of water. That will make a significant difference.
Another important thing is removing the desensitization to sugar that many individuals have. A part of why we eat so much sugary and sweet food is because we are used to it. As someone who rarely eats sweets or candy, biting into a bar of milk chocolate or trying to eat a Twizzler is overwhelming and significantly too rich, the only way I can handle sweets is in smaller portions and after a good meal, I can never eat sweets on an empty stomach. Once you're desensitized to sweets however, it's much easier to eat them in larger portions, and on empty stomachs.

It all ties in together, don't feed your kids soda, don't cry about the fact that you have to speak an extra sentence when ordering to feed your kids soda. Don't think this has anything to do with your freedom to choose.

Besides, McDonald's is a corporation, not the United States government, they could decide to replace all their burger patties with tofu tomorrow and they'd be infringing on your rights about as much as your neighbor would be if he decided to paint his house neon pink.

I'm glad these big corporations are teaching you how to parent

McDonald's is not responsible for the food parents feed their kids. It's a fast food joint and eating there is not really a healthy option. It's a treat like cake or chips.

Having said that I'm glad they are offering options.

I feel like if your going to go to McDonald's, just get the stinkin hamburger and fries.... if I wanted a salad or healthy food I would not be going to McDonald's lol....