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Loading ...Happy Meals are marketed to children between the ages of 3 and 9. A Happy Meal with a cheeseburger, small fries and Sprite totals 670 calories, with 26 grams of fat and 4.5 grams of trans fat — the fat type that experts say is particularly dangerous.
LA Times: Disney is not renewing its cross-promotional pact with the fast-food giant, ending the arrangement with this summer’s release of “Cars” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” One reason, say multiple high-ranking sources within Disney, is that the company — which prides itself on being family friendly — wants to distance itself from fast food and its links to the epidemic of childhood obesity.
Under the terms of the agreement, said to be worth $1 billion to Disney, McDonald’s paid $100 million in royalties and conducted 11 promotions a year for Disney films, videos and TV shows, with seven aimed specifically toward the young Happy Meal consumers. Disney also agreed to let McDonald’s set up shop inside its theme parks.
Disney declined to discuss the breakup. But in a conference call last year, Pixar Animation Studios chief Steve Jobs — who is now Disney’s largest shareholder in the wake of Disney’s recent purchase of Pixar — signaled his ambivalence about using characters to sell fast food while promoting a film.
“There is value” in fast-food tie-ins, Jobs said then. “But there are also some concerns, as our society becomes more conscious of some of the implications of fast food.”
And Disney is not the only studio that thinks French fries loaded with trans fats may be too hot to handle.
