McDonald's, is trying hard to add the health conscious tag to its image. Their latest effort in this direction is to offer books with Happy Meals.
The food joint plans to give away nearly 20 million books to U.S. families. The program will commence Nov 1 on the National Family literacy day and will continue for the first two weeks of the month.
However, this is not the first time that McDonald's is offering books alongside the Happy Meal. In 2011, Mc Donald's had taken up similar initiatives in the U.K. in collaboration with publishers Dorling Kindersley and WH Smith to provide educational books to children who don't have access to them.
"We're excited to invite families to spend time together and celebrate the joy of reading through these fun and original Happy Meal books," said Ubong Ituen, vice president of marketing for McDonald's USA, in a statement, reports broadwayworld. "This is the latest step in our ongoing efforts to enrich the lives of families, and part of a broader book strategy that will combine the fun of the Happy Meal, new partners and technology to inspire more family reading time."
The books will feature some of the popular Happy Meal characters other than Ronald McDonald and Hamburger. The books are meant to push healthy food habits in a light way using characters like Goat, Ant, Doddi and Deana.
McDonald's has also announced its tie up with the non-profit association, Reading is Fundamental and will be offering more than 10,000 Happy Meal books for the organization.. "Books are essential for inspiring children to explore, dream and achieve, yet far too many children do not have this basic resource," said Carol Hampton Rasco, the CEO of Reading is Fundamental, according to a recent post on Advertising Age. "To change this unfortunate reality, RIF is uniting with McDonald's, a company that embraces the transformative power of books and is committed to helping families and communities thrive."
The fast food retailer will also offer free digital versions of these books on McPlay, McDonald's Happy Meal apps, HappyMeal.com and MeEncanta.com for the Spanish version and the content will be updated each month.
However, the initiative is not being appreciated in many quarters, with critics labeling these efforts as a mere strategic move on McDonald's part to boost up its market. The Boston based non-profit organization, Corporate Accountability International, has vehemently opposed this promotional campaign by McDonalds claiming it to be a "a thinly-veiled promotion designed to get the brand in front of more kids and earn goodwill."
"By associating the brand with a message of healthy eating, it's tricking kids and parents into thinking that McDonald's has their best interests in mind," Sara Deon, director of the campaign, "Value the Meal" for Corporate Accountability International, said in a statement reports abc news.
