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The Happy Meal inventor says McDonald’s didn’t want it at first | CNN Business

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The Happy Meal inventor says McDonald’s didn’t want it at first | CNN Business


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CNN Enterprise
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McDonald’s mentioned this week that it offered half of its new Comfortable Meals geared towards adults in simply 4 days. However 4 a long time in the past, when the primary Comfortable Meal debuted, the corporate didn’t fairly get it.

“They have been reluctant slightly bit. They didn’t instantly embrace it,” Bob Bernstein, an promoting govt who created the Comfortable Meal within the late Seventies, mentioned in a video interview from his Kansas Metropolis workplace, which is decked out with Comfortable Meal memorabilia and unique artwork. “It took some convincing on our half.”

Bernstein, whose advert company ran advertising for McDonald’s

(MCD) in a number of cities, had been working with McDonald’s

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(MCD) for a decade earlier than the Comfortable Meal debuted.

He specialised in children’ advertising and had invented a number of promotional presents McDonald’s gave out to children, such because the Comfortable Cup exhibiting Ronald McDonald with a flying hamburger, the Sippy Dipper straw formed like McDonald’s golden arches and pencil puppets.

However McDonald’s was shedding its grip available on the market for teenagers and households.

McDonald’s had modified its retailer design from pink and white-tiled buildings to brick within the Seventies, which children hated, and opponents like Burger Chef have been profitable over children with presents. Burger King had additionally began utilizing its “King” character to enchantment to youngsters.

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So McDonald’s requested Bernstein and his staff to develop an idea to entice households once more.

“We have been shedding our endorsement of the youngsters,” he mentioned. “We needed to reestablish ourselves with children and the household and say we have been child pleasant.”

Bernstein watched his younger son eat cereal day-after-day and observed that every morning he would maintain up the cereal field and pore over it on all sides, day after day. It was one thing of a revelation, and he realized that “children need one thing to do once they eat.”

So Bernstein and his staff determined to create a children’ meal field for McDonald’s, with the corporate’s golden arches as handles and puzzles, riddles, video games and comedian strips on the surface for teenagers to interact with whereas they ate. Bernstein and his staff tapped illustrators from across the nation to make the packing containers stand out.

The meal’s identify was an offshoot of a Nineteen Sixties McDonald’s jingle, wherein it referred to as itself the “joyful place.” “It’s such a cheerful place / Hap, hap, hap, joyful place,” it went.

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In 1977, the Comfortable Meal, which got here with a regular-size burger, fries, Keebler cookies, a soda and a Cracker Jack shock toy, launched solely in McDonald’s franchise shops in Kansas Metropolis, Denver and Phoenix as a promotional merchandise. For some purpose, the corporate’s company places of work outdoors Chicago have been reluctant to roll out the Comfortable Meal nationally.

“Company simply didn’t seize it instantly,” Bernstein mentioned. “They needed to see extra testing. That was a bit uncommon.”

After greater than a yr of profitable assessments, the Comfortable Meal went nationwide in 1979.

The $1.10 meal was circus wagon-themed and its the primary toys have been a McDoodle stencil, a spinning high, erasers and different merchandise.”Your children will love McDonald’s Comfortable Meal. It’s meals and enjoyable in a field,” mentioned a business that yr.

Later that yr, McDonald’s created a meal tied to the debut of “Star Trek: The Movement Image” film, the primary of many Comfortable Meal promotional tie-ins to films. A TV spot featured a Klingon telling dad and mom to deliver their youngsters to McDonald’s for a Star Trek meal.

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Nonetheless, the Comfortable Meal was not embraced by many franchise homeowners, who anxious it could disrupt their operations.

“It wasn’t a very talked-about idea,” mentioned Colleen Fahey, the inventive director at advert company Frankel, which labored with McDonald’s to show the Comfortable Meal from a promotional merchandise right into a everlasting menu merchandise in the course of the Nineteen Eighties.

“The packing containers have been difficult. They needed to discover a place to retailer the toys,” she mentioned. “They thought it was too advanced for his or her operations.”

However as gross sales took off, McDonald’s and its franchise operators warmed to the Comfortable Meal, thanks largely to the recognition of toys within the meal and the essential addition of Rooster McNuggets in 1984.

Bernstein was not concerned in McDonald’s Comfortable Meal technique after it went nationwide. (He and his company continued working with McDonald’s till earlier this yr.)

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Though his model of the Comfortable Meal centered on the designs outdoors the field, toys turned its essential enchantment. McDonald’s became one of many largest toy distributors within the nation and the toys turned collectors’ objects. Classic Comfortable Meal toys now promote for as much as $50 on eBay.

McDonald’s then started working with Hollywood studios and main toy producers reminiscent of Mattel

(MAT) to create limited-time meals round sizzling toys, reminiscent of Muppet Infants in 1987 and Sizzling Wheels a yr later.

Toys were a key addition to the Happy Meal.

Within the Nineteen Nineties, Beanie Infants, Transformers and Energy Rangers Comfortable Meal toys have been large hits for McDonald’s. And in 1996, the corporate struck a 10-year take care of Disney

(DIS) to create toys impressed by their films.

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The meal has been integral to McDonald’s success with households, mentioned Jonathan Maze, the editor-in-chief at Restaurant Enterprise Journal.

“McDonald’s place within the restaurant business is second to none and largely as a result of it has the household market,” he mentioned. “Burger King and Wendy’s have at all times struggled to draw households the way in which McDonald’s has.”

If children need a Comfortable Meal and the accompanying toy, they’ll bug their dad and mom to take them to McDonald’s, the place the chain can promote meals to the entire household, he mentioned.

However the dietary worth of a Comfortable Meal and McDonald’s advertising ways to children have been criticized from almost the beginning for contributing to childhood weight problems.

Within the mid-2000s, strain on McDonald’s swelled to make the meal more healthy and eradicate the toys as they have been basically a promoting gimmick to achieve children.

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In 2011, San Francisco handed an ordinance, which continues to be in power, that prohibited McDonald’s and quick meals chains from together with free toys or different incentives with children’ meals that didn’t meet minimal dietary requirements. (Prospects should purchase a toy for an extra 10 cents, and McDonald’s donates the proceeds to charity.)

Cities and states additionally started setting vitamin requirements for teenagers’ meals. The primary children’ meal coverage was handed in 2010 in Santa Clara County, California, and almost two dozen different states and localities have adopted children’ meal insurance policies, in response to the Heart for Science within the Public Curiosity, a client advocacy group.

In response, McDonald’s made a collection of modifications to the Comfortable Meal.

McDonald's has come under pressure to make Happy Meals healthier.

McDonald’s diminished the french fries portion by greater than half, added apples to the meal and supplied diminished sugar low fats chocolate milk. It additionally eliminated soda in 2013 and in 2018 introduced cheeseburgers wouldn’t be a part of the meal, though dad and mom can nonetheless ask for them.

And it has diminished the meal’s calorie rely. Right now, there are 475 energy in a Comfortable Meal, down round 20% from 5 years in the past.

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McDonald’s instructed CNN Enterprise that it’s “dedicated to advertising responsibly and serving to lead the business on self-regulation round promoting to youngsters,” and that it solely advertises Comfortable Meal bundles that meet dietary standards set by business teams.

McDonald’s has been a frontrunner amongst quick meals chains in enhancing children’ meals, mentioned Lindsay Moyer, a nutritionist at Heart for Science within the Public Curiosity who researches quick meals meals for teenagers.

She applauds McDonald’s for eradicating soda, shrinking the fries and including fruit. However these steps are “piecemeal” and the Comfortable Meal stays on the entire unhealthy she mentioned. “There’s not loads nutrient-dense meals.”

She famous that McDonald’s has mentioned it could look so as to add grains or greens to the meal, however there’s been no change.

And what’s included in a Comfortable Meal – and what’s not noted – is extra than simply about meals. “It’s essential for norms and habits. It’s saying to children ‘that is what a meal is,’” she mentioned. Dangling toys to get children to eat burgers and fries additionally “makes it harder for fogeys to advertise wholesome consuming.”

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Dollar surges as Donald Trump’s tariffs shake markets

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Dollar surges as Donald Trump’s tariffs shake markets

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Donald Trump’s tariffs shook markets on Monday, with the US dollar surging, Asian markets falling and US stock futures sliding as investors rush to assess how the levies will affect America’s biggest trading partners. 

The US dollar surged more than 1 per cent against a basket of currencies, sending the Canadian dollar to C$1.473 — the lowest level since 2003. Mexico’s currency slid by more than 2 per cent to 21.15 pesos a dollar while the euro fell 1 per cent.

US stock futures also fell sharply, with contracts tracking the benchmark S&P 500 losing 1.7 per cent and those tracking the Nasdaq 100 sliding 2.3 per cent. European futures also fell, with the Euro Stoxx 50 down 2.6 per cent.

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Trump admitted in a post on Truth Social, his social network, that there would “maybe” be “some pain” from his tariffs. “But . . . it will all be worth the price that must be paid,” he wrote on Sunday.

The US two-year Treasury yield rose by 0.05 percentage points to 4.25 per cent, while the 10-year yield fell by 0.02 percentage points to 4.52 per cent.

In Asia, Japanese equities slid. The export-heavy Nikkei 225 fell 2.4 per cent while the Topix fell 1.9 per cent. The yen weakened 0.2 per cent against the dollar to ¥155.5.

China’s offshore renminbi, which trades freely, slid as much as 0.7 per cent to Rmb7.37 a dollar on Monday morning. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.8 per cent, led lower by Chinese companies listed in the territory. Mainland China’s stock market is closed until Wednesday.

South Korea’s Kospi benchmark shed 2.2 per cent and the won dropped 0.9 per cent against the dollar to Won1,468.8. In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 index fell as much as 2 per cent.

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Weaker currencies can help offset some of the tariffs’ impact.

“There was some optimism in the market that [tariff threats] were just for negotiation, but the market may have underestimated the determination of the Trump administration”, said Jason Lui, head of Asia-Pacific equity and derivative strategy at BNP Paribas.

The steep declines came after Trump on Saturday imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Mexico and Canada, with a lower 10 per cent levy for Canadian energy, and new 10 per cent tariffs on imports from China. He also last week threatened levies against the EU.

Economists have warned that the tariffs are likely to accelerate inflation in the US, something that pushed up Treasury yields and the dollar following Trump’s election in November.

“The clearest implication is a stronger dollar,” said Eric Winograd, chief economist at AllianceBernstein. “A long dollar position is the cleanest, clearest expression of the trade war that is now being launched.”

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“The currencies that will suffer the most are the ones against whom the tariffs are being imposed,” added Winograd, noting that “there’s a good case to be made that the equity market will suffer a little bit”.

Oil prices also climbed in early Asian trade, with international benchmark Brent crude up 0.6 per cent at $76.13 a barrel.

George Saravelos at Deutsche Bank said the tariff announcements were “at the most hawkish end of the protectionist spectrum we could have envisaged”, and that markets needed to “structurally and significantly reprice the trade war risk premium”.

The Mexican peso has whipsawed in recent weeks as traders have scrutinised the new Trump administration’s announcements for clues about how quickly and how extensive any new levies would be.

“If the tariff stays on for several months the exchange rate will reach new historic highs,” said Gabriela Siller, chief economist at Mexico’s Banco Base, referring to the number of pesos per dollar. “If the tariff stays on it will be a structural change for Mexico . . . and Mexico could go into a profound recession that would take years to come out of.”

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55 of the 67 victims have been recovered from the D.C. plane crash

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55 of the 67 victims have been recovered from the D.C. plane crash

Rescue and salvage crews work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Sunday in Arlington, Va.

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Officials have recovered the bodies of 55 of the 67 victims killed after an Army helicopter and an American Airlines passenger plane collided at low altitude near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last week.

“It’s my belief that we’re going to recover everyone,” said D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly during a Sunday briefing on the victim recovery efforts and debris removal.

Divers are still searching the frigid Potomac River for the remains of 12 people. The waterway remains closed to unauthorized vessels.

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All 64 people aboard AA Flight 5342 and all three people in the Black Hawk helicopter were killed the Wednesday night collision, the deadliest air crash to happen in the country in two decades.

The process of lifting the wreckage out of the river will start Monday.

“Our goal is to really lift as much as we can, given the fact that we are also accounting for the human remains component,” said Col. Francis Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into how the crash could have happened.

The NTSB said Saturday that the airplane — an inbound flight from Wichita approaching one of DCA’s three runways — was 325 feet in the air, give or take 25 feet, at the time of impact. Early information suggests the Army helicopter was flying above 200 feet, the maximum allowed altitude for the path it was on, according to the independent federal agency.

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The helicopter was on a training mission, and investigators are working to confirm whether the crew had on their night vision while flying the clear, dark skies.

The collision has renewed concerns about the area’s level of air traffic congestion, which leaves little room for error in the airspace above major transport hubs that serve the nation’s capital region.

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China threatens countermeasures to combat Trump tariffs

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China threatens countermeasures to combat Trump tariffs

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Beijing has hit out at new 10 per cent tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese exports, saying it will “take necessary countermeasures to defend its rights and interests” as trade tensions between the two powers enter a new phase.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that China opposed the tariffs, which it said were introduced “under the pretext of the fentanyl issue”.

“The US needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes,” the MFA said.

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China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization.

The additional 10 per cent levies come alongside new 25 per cent tariffs on exports from Canada and Mexico, as President Trump embarks on an expanded trade war, following a range of measures imposed on China by the US during his first term.

Trump said the influx of “illegal aliens” and drugs, including the opiate Fentanyl, had created a “national emergency” that justified the tariffs.

During last year’s election campaign, he had warned of tariffs as high as 60 per cent against China, but subsequently signalled a rate of 10 per cent. He has linked the levies to the country’s role in the flow of ingredients or “precursors” for fentanyl.

China agreed to take actions to stem the flow of precursors at a summit between President Xi Jinping and then-president Joe Biden in San Francisco in November 2023. Since then, Beijing has taken some actions that were welcomed by the Biden administration, but critics, including some in the outgoing administration, wanted China to do much more.

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Although widely anticipated, the measures pose a significant challenge to Xi Jinping’s government at a time when weaknesses in domestic demand have made it particularly dependent on exports for economic growth. Last year, China’s trade surplus hit a record high of close to $1tn.

Tao Wang, chief China economist at UBS Investment Bank, said the tariffs had been imposed more quickly than expected and that the blanket 10 per cent rate was more expansive than phased measures under Trump’s first administration.

“This is broader and likely much bigger than the first round,” she said, adding that many expected Trump to add more tariffs once his officials completed a review of trade policy in April.

Wang said she expected a hit to China’s GDP of 0.3 to 0.4 per cent.

In a report published last week, Morningstar said the 10 per cent tariffs would most affect home appliances, home furnishings, lithium batteries and electric vehicles in China. But it added many companies would “likely see an impact of less than 5 per cent of their respective total revenue” and that they “may not be as bad as feared for some industries”.

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Beijing also faces trade tensions with the EU over tariffs imposed on its electric vehicles last summer, which have led to a wave of countermeasures on products from cognac to dairy. 

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