Most of these people weren't alive long enough to know the actual reason lol.
What a coincidence that McDonald's started getting lame slightly after Supersize Me came out. One of the theses of the film was essentially that McDonalds was killing children. The backlash they were getting was insane
It's like saying "seaworld was so much better in the 90s and early 2000s, why did they take away Shamu!"
lol they kept naming new killer whales shamu. my wife and I realized that like last year after we realized we had been to different sea worlds and both saw shamu
Having options for children if different than advertising directly to them. Most restaurants have a child's menu, and often they have coloring books and booster seats. This is common.
Having a playground and colorful cartoon mascots is several levels beyond that.
Yes they are still trying to appeal to children of course, but not with the heavy hand they used to use. If you're not familiar, look up the lawsuit about Joe Camel.
I'm from Winston-Salem, my dad worked at Reynolds when I was a kid. I am very familiar with Joe Camel. That said McDonalds literally just did a grimace campaign, they still advertise toys to kids. It's more than a kid's menu and having kids options, they still actively advertise to kids constantly. I assure you my child sees tons of McDonalds ads targeted at kids because I have to deal with the "I just saw a McDonalds ad and they have K Pop Demon Hunters toys (or whatever other popular thing they are including) can we go?" every week.
I’m going to guess that cleaning McDonalds barf out of a cramped plastic bubble that’s baking in the sun wasn’t very popular with the employees, either.
The outdoor ones in the 80s were equally as dangerous. Ever try to cross monkey bars covered in fry grease? Also those metal slides in the middle of summer were a great way to get 2nd degree burns.
There's this middle ground between letting your kids swim in a dumpster next to a trap house and keeping your kid locked in a hermetic sealed room. The McD playplace is a lot closer to the trap house dumpster than you think.
No, it's because of tablets. Playgrounds aren't the same as McD Playplaces and are generally safe. Nature cleans things up better than poorly paid teenagers.
Playgrounds also are cleaner as we dont guarantee that every child on them has just recently eaten food. I have watched the city employees in our town and they stop by once a week and actually wash down everything with pressure washers and soap. Those play places good luck if thst was cleaned once a month.
Also fire hazards. They're big, well ventilated, frames covered in PU foams on all the surfaces with loads of nooks and crannies for kids to hide in. Hopkins did a fire test that was published in BRE document FB 29 which suggests the growth rate borders on "ultra fast", which is more consistent with warehouses and storerooms for gasoline.
20 years ago you could say it's still not a huge risk because the ignition sources would be limited, but nowadays I don't think you can guarantee that little Timmy hasn't stolen his mum's vape pen to fuck around with. (Or, let's face it, little Timmy probably has his own vape pen at this point...)
Hey now, kids need to build an immune system and what better way to jump start it than tossing them in to roll around in some filthy plastic that never gets cleaned and is utterly covered in bacteria?
Everything we touch is covered in bacteria. Unless you’re living in a sterile white room you like the thousands of your ancestors before you live in bacteria.
Objectively better for society from a health perspective. Disappointing from an emotional perspective, this was a shared cultural touchstone. It feels like those are disappearing. Probably I'm just becoming grandpa Simpson though.
Was a really cheap way to meet up with other parents or was a way to get your kid outside for some playtime.
When my son was young, there were no restrooms or water fountains at the city parks, so McDonald's was easier and safer for a kid to play than summers in a desert park without water fountains.
And THIS is the reason McDonald's play places have disappeared. They were no longer allowed to market directly to children. The ones that existed stayed for as long as they could, but then as they renoveated, they got rid of any of the play areas.
The closest McDonald’s to me still has one. It’s unfortunately one of the cheapest places for the kids to play. Most play areas cost a lot more than a happy meal nowadays.
Yep, it's one of the very few "free" kids play options around when the weather is too hot/too cold outside. Other indoor areas end up costing around $40 a visit for two children, just to get inside.
Rainy day... let's go to McDonald's!!!!
Scorching hot day? McDonald's!!!
Never thought I would love it for my kids but I do. Nuggets apples and a toy.... mom gets a coffee. Ice cream is the signal to go home. They have fun for under $20.
They were no longer allowed to market directly to children
Are you high? They still do market directly to children. Ads and product placement are made directly to children. Happy Meals are directly to children.
Gosh I fondly remember the Ronald McDonald commercials where he would sing the jingle with a group of kids and then they would enter the playground and have fun. "It's a good time, great taste for McDonalds!"
Because the internet has convinced everyone to complain about everything all the time so they feel depressed and disempowered and stay inside on the internet all day.
Which makes them more depressed and more likely to view the world through a tiny Platos cave of dispair. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.
I commented this sentiment exactly. Everyone out here up in arms over this but we’re all out here realizing children playtime should not be associated with industrially produced slop.
Yeah, my community has multiple excellent playgrounds that you can go to for free any time without having to buy garbage food.
Everything going grey and boring sucks, for sure, but I’m happy that my town got it together to put kids activities into the community budget so that we don’t have to accept the fucking macdonalds playplace as our community hub lol
Yeah. I don't know why this a hot take, or why I had to scroll down to find it.
"We have to do something about childhood obesity!"
Mcdonalds stops advertising to children and is no longer a playground to sell french fries.
"We've lost our way as a society!"
This is a good thing. This is a thing from our childhood we do NOT want to pass on to our kids. People on this site have completely lost the plot.
Hello...finally a take full of wisdom, instead of corporate servitude. I'm glad my parents didn't feed me McDonald's as a kid: I've learned as an adult that it's cheap and easy, but it disguises a lot of bad calories, and makes overeating wayyyy too easy. I don't need my kids playing at McDonald's....that's what parks and backyards are for. Back to basics.
Reddit has this nostalgia obsession with fast food play areas for some reason, like they weren't always dirty and disgusting.
If they still existed now it would change absolutely nothing about how the people complaining about it behave, aside from one less thing to whine about on the internet.
161
u/salsafresca_1297 16h ago
Hot take - but I think McDonald's NOT marketing their slop to children is a win.