McDonald's Pulls Happy Meal Fitness Tracker
August 18 2016 - 5:30PM
Dow Jones News
If your child recently got a fitness tracker with the purchase
of a Happy Meal, you might want to exchange it for a new toy. This
week, soon after rolling out its Step It activity band, McDonald's
Corp. began removing it because some children complained of wrist
irritation.
The toy tracker began appearing in Happy Meals in the U.S. and
Canada on Aug. 9, and its removal from Happy Meals is voluntary, a
McDonald's spokeswoman said.
"We have taken this swift and voluntary step after receiving
limited reports of potential skin irritations that may be
associated from wearing the band," McDonald's said in a statement.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our customers
and we are fully investigating this issue. Our restaurants are now
offering our youngest guests an alternative Happy Meal toy."
The plastic toy tracker wasn't exactly a Fitbit: It simply
counted steps and blinked encouragement, based on how fast the
wearer was moving. There were four buttons on its face: a power
button and three more for tracking walking, jumping rope and sports
in general.
Speaking of Fitbit Inc., the maker of the most popular Bluetooth
trackers is no stranger to skin-irritation controversy. Fitbit
recalled its Force wrist wearable in 2014, and in 2015, it received
complaints over the Fitbit Surge as well.
McDonald's declined to say how many Step It activity bands were
distributed, and whether or not the company would redesign the
fitness toys for future Happy Meal promotions. But it's a setback
for a company that has spent years working to refashion its
junk-food image, said Elisabeth Honka, an assistant professor of
marketing at the University of California Los Angeles.
"There's a general trend in fast food to include healthier
options: salads, milks, fruits, especially in kids' meals," Prof.
Honka said. "Healthier toys are all about making parents not feel
so bad about taking their kids out for fast food."
The Step It tracker also appeals to children wanting to emulate
their parents. "The Apple Watch and Fitbit are cool gadgets for
adults," she said. "Kids see that and aspire to have them."
While a bit embarrassing for McDonald's, asking parents to swap
toy fitness trackers for other toys shouldn't have an impact on the
chain's business, as long as it doesn't become a pattern, said
Steve Callander, a professor of political economy at Stanford
University's Graduate School of Business.
"A skin irritant is very different from something that could
seriously harm children," Prof. Callander said. "As of now, it's
not a catastrophe. [McDonald's] just needs to be more diligent
about making sure their tech toys work properly before trying this
again."
Write to Nathan Olivarez-Giles at
Nathan.Olivarez-giles@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 18, 2016 17:15 ET (21:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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