McNanny-Staters Sue McDonalds
**Written by Doug Powers
The CEO of McDonalds told the Center for Science in the Public Interest to go pound non-fat, sodium free sand over the summer, but they’re back with a lawyer this time:
WASHINGTON—A mother of two from Sacramento, Calif., says that McDonald’s uses toys as bait to induce her kids to clamor to go to McDonald’s and to develop a preference for nutritionally poor Happy Meals. With the help of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, today the mom, Monet Parham, is filing a class action lawsuit aimed at stopping McDonald’s use of toys to market directly to young children. The suit will be filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco shortly after the court opens for business Wednesday morning.
According to Parham, the main reason her six-year-old daughter, Maya, asks to go to McDonald’s is to get toys based on Barbie, i-Carly, Shrek, or Strawberry Shortcake. The food seems almost beside the point to the kids, says Parham, because the toy monopolizes the attention of Maya and her two-year-old sister Lauryn.
Because I’m in the mood to help the Center for Science in the Interest of Intruding on the Public come up with some alternatives, here’s some advice for the mother mentioned in the story: The next time your kids ask to go to McDonalds, try saying this: “NO!” It’ll work wonders — or you can just sue McDonalds if it’s easier. That way you’ll get the added benefit of teaching your kids exactly how they too can grow up to be crappy parents.
Not to belabor a point, but if the toys are distracting the kids from the food, shouldn’t Happy Meals be receiving the Michelle Obama “Let’s Move” Golden BMI Calipers seal of approval instead of lawsuits from spineless, intrusive ninnies?
If they don’t like Happy Meals, let ‘em move to San Francisco.
Update: Jammie Wearing Fool has much more on the agenda behind this lawsuit.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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It should be pointed out that you can buy the toys without buying the happy meal. All you have to do is ask.
I think they also offer the “healthy” happy meals, the ones with apple slices and the like.
Hey Monet – Turn OFF the TV, give them books to read, and just say NO!
Unfortunately, this will come before a judge and he’ll allow this BS to continue. Since the judge is also a lawyer, he’ll make sure that there is enough work for his fellow lawyers. And McD will have to defend itself against a completely worthless argument.
I wonder if she would sue if the law said the loser has to pay all fees? Bet she just would have said NO to her kids and left it at that.
She has apparently never taken her kids down a cereal aisle in a grocery store. Mein Gott! The blatant baiting of our children by the likes of Tony the Tiger and Cap’n Crunch!
Oh, the humanity!
Or… do what I always did…
Take the toy, and tell them they can have it once we leave… after they finish eating…
FIFY
At first I thought this would be laughed out of court by the judge. Then I saw the word ‘San Francisco’.
If you Google “Monet Parham” you get this tidbit (I haven’t checked to see if it’s tru yet…)
OT:
AlohaGuy/Hangfire–I want to go to Hawaii. Where’s the best place?
To do what?
So because she lacks the intestinal fortitude to say “NO” to her little urchins, the rest of the world has to accomodate her? A judge should give her nothing but a swift kick in the butt out the door, after charging her court costs and any legal fees incurred by McDonalds.
We lost our right to be stupid when that woman successfully sued McDonalds when she bought a hot coffee in the drivethru, and put it between her legs.
so get your husband, their father, to help you with the discipline.
what?
Message to Monet Parham:
You decide the restaurant, not your children. You are the parent. When your child wants heroin, are you going to buy it for her and then sue the dealer for providing it?
Well, AG, mrcakes & I like flora and fauna and a bit of secludedness. Not too many people, but access to some nice shopping when there’s time.
I doubt that they could find a parent stupid enough anywhere else. In fact, I’m surprised they found any kind of parent at all in San Francisco.
It is San Francisco, afterall…
I would love it if McDonald’s countered with a call to child protective services seeing as this supposed mother has openly admitted that she has no control over her children; therefore, she is an unfit mother.
By this womans logic, it would also be possible to file this same lawsuit against any toy retailer that also sells fast food.
Clearly, we need a loser pays component for frivilous lawsuits like this one.
What a weak bunch of pansies half of this Country have become. Take responsibility for yourself and your family. Work for your money; dont sue deep pocket corporations for it. What a shakedown. I hope McDonalds takes this to the mat.
Since she has enough money to bring a frivolous lawsuit, maybe she should just drive through Mickey Ds, buy the Happy Meal, give the kids the darn toy and throw the food into the trash. What the hell is wrong with people that they can’t problem solve better than this.
Of course, all the suggestions toward saying NO are the best. Apparently the kids run the house.
And yet another reason (as if we needed one) to just fence off California from the rest of us.
The stupidity of that place astounds me.
Excellent. Turn the table on a nitwit.
I actually have a friend named Sue McDonald. She won’t like seeing her name in the headlines.
{Psst, would you happen to be retired Military, by any chance?}
Shouldn’t she sue Hollywood that actually creates the toys that go with their movies?
Shouldn’t she sue China, who actually makes the crappy toys?
Shouldn’t she sue her cable company and every station on it that advertises the toys, since they entice the children to go to McDonalds for the toys?
Shouldn’t she sue the local, city, and state governments that provide the roads for to drive to McDonalds?
Shouldn’t she sue her kids for screaming for the toys?
Shouldn’t she sue herself for giving in and bringing her kids to McDonalds?
Or maybe we could all drop all of the lawyers in Siberia and practice some common sense.
To paraphrase George Costanza, “Don’t get me started on toys in Happy Meals. You know who invented that don’t you? The Jews!”
Jeff Dunham needs a new dummy:
Monet the Litigious Mom
“I SUE YOU!!!”
I got my schmeckle caught in my zipper once. It was extremely painful.
I wish my parents had sued Levi Strauss. In fact, a class-action suit resulting in the ban of zippers in men’s trousers would be advised, since it would prevent the trauma from ever happening again to innocent American boys wanting to go commando.
But, nooooooo, my parents solved it by chuckling and saying that should teach me to go without skivvies. I should sue them.
Perhaps McDonald’s should just pull all there stores out of the area as part of a settlement agreement. Then tell all the employees they let go to be sure to thank Monet Parham for the loss of their jobs…
One more reason I am glad I wore button fly 501′s!!
Ya gotta wear skivvies with the button fly! That’s a no brainer!
spacey, that is hilarious on so many levels.
I have never seen a child purchase a “Happy Meal”. You know, one of those things you see while waiting in line where a cute and capricious, unaccompanied 6 year old orders a Happy Meal, slams an Abe on the counter and says “for here”. Mickey D’s sells Happy Meals to adults, what they do with them after they leave the counter should not be the problem of the seller.
Little kids never throw an Abe on the counter to purchase condoms, and say “for here” either.
Hey Mom – Just Say NO!
They get them free at school.
Hangfire re: retired military
unfortunately, nope. I sure would like to hear
a sunny little, funny little melody/that was started by a native down in Waikiki…
So, the lawyer will sue and win millions of dollars cash in a settlement. The and the members of the class will get McDonalds coupons…
as I was going to make a comment on this idiocy…
I saw Doug’s wise thoughts on the subject….
This idiot should sue herself and put her kids up for a adoption. They’d have a better chance than they would with her.
when my sister was a baby, practically the first thing out of her mouth was “go there mommy” as she pointed to the golden arches. At that time, it was the saturday morning commercials with Ronald and Grimace and the gang that got my sister thinking she wanted McDonalds. All this business tells me several things.
1) kids are enticed by advertising and toys. It happens in fast food, it happens with breakfast cereal and pizza rolls and every other product that is marketed to kids on Nickelodeon, Disney, and Cartoon Network. As a parent, it is my responsibility to limit my kids exposure to these ads, to curtail my kids response to these ads, and basically to act like an adult.
2) the only thing new about this is that a parent would be so shameless that they would sue the company over this. Kids have alwasy been influcenced by ads and toys. Imagine your father or mother admitting that they have so little control as parents that McDonalds is to blame for a) kids demanding that they go to McDonalds b)kids demanding that they get the toy before they eat the food.
This woman deserves to be ridiculed and laughed out of the country.
That was my first thought too.
Another thought… I had several friends whose parents never allowed junk food, granola-heads and all that. Well, when they finally got out of the house, guess what they ate? Every junk food item they could get their hands on.
Kids always want the forbidden, as she’ll find out when little Maya and Lauryn are older.
On December 15th, 2010 at 5:22 pm,
how long are you planning to stay?
from popehat.com:
She evidently has an agenda beyond Happy Meals.
HF–about a week; I’d like to visit in Feb. 2011
Judge, I’m a bad parent, so I’m suing McDonalds. I have no self-control or discipline over my children and it’s somebody elses fault.
Nice courtroom argument.
If you can swing it, spend 3-4 on Oahu and the rest on either Maui or the Big Island. Kauai, if you really want rural and laid back.
I like the Big Island best. I’d live there if they had the jobs. But the Volcanoes National Park is a must see. You also have to drive around the island. Kailua-Kona, City of Refuge, Naalehu (Southern-most town in U.S., despite what Key West claims.)
This will mean a class action lawsuit against Hooters from angry housewives claiming that they “use eye candy as bait to induce their husbands to clamor to go to Hooters and to develop a preference for nutritionally poor beverages”. (Oh the humanity!)
Dear Pandora, Please put down that box and step away from the bench.
Actually, we studied that case and I haven’t looked it up, but my instructor said that it wasn’t really frivolous. The manager of the McDonalds knew that the cups were defective because he had several instances of the bottoms falling out. The manager admitted that even though he/she knew, they ordered continued use of the cups. Also, the judge on that case reduced the awarded amount of money. She was awarded like millions, but the judge ruled she should receive like 100k or something.
Don’t get me wrong, the premise on this case is stupid. Actually, this moron woman should be sued for not being a good mother. Stop all the tv watching and give your kids some arts and crafts to do, bonehead, and stop using your children as shields so you can further your agenda. Your agenda is anti-capitalism, not good nutrition. Just admit it.
Courtesy NYC City Council. If you’re under the roof of the City University of New York and the City’s Board of Education, your carnivore days are numbered thanks to the impetus provided by Nannielle O and Bloomberg; Meat products used in their cafeterias will be totally phased out within 8 years for soy substitutes and soda machines out in two (only due to contracts). They’re already dictating what “allowed” in our kids’ lunchboxes — no matter what you dished for them. They get away with it because they stick it to use while we’re laughing hard at their crazy ideas. That’s why I just can’t find humor in these issues because it’s a prelude to us getting royally screwed.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
Good grief! Some personal responsibility is needed here. These women want to admit that they are being out smarted by their own children. Learn to be parents!!!! Any parent who allows a child to bully them into going to get a happy meal is not going to be saved by banning the toys.
Me, I’m gonna sue, Sue and Hooters for not breast feeding a hungry man his meal!
Here is your dose of common sense for today:
If you are so absolutely cowed by the prospect of having to refuse your kids a Happy Meal that hiring a cadre of expensive lawyers seems more appealing, then you probably shouldn’t have children to begin with.
Words cannot express how this outrages me. The sheer stupidity, selfishness, and egotism of these parents is beyond belief.
To them I say: Thanks for allowing the Nanny State to assume it runs my children’s lives, too.
Either way is correct.
I feel for those children, my Mom let me read Mad magazines as a child and I’ve been paying for it ever since!
Will someone please add ‘loser pays’ to the TEA Party reforms if it isn’t already there? This one is a poster boy for why we need tort reform and end frivolous class action lawsuits that serve only to line the pockets of parasites.
What do you call a pile of 10,000 dead class action trial lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
Ans:(bkwrds) .trats doog A
Which means that their cafeterias will be phased out with them. BTW, do you need a license to hunt squirrel and pigeon in Central Park with a bow?
Rogue!! I KNEW there was something I really, really liked, and yet feared, about you!
Plan ahead – it takes a whole day to drive around the Big Island, get an early start…
What’s your budget – expensive or OUCH!?
Spacey, visit Hilo, but stay in Kona on Big Island.
I agree – and skip Maui. Very touristy. The Big Island will give you all the Flora and Fauna your heart desires, and has 10 or 11 climate zones. (Be careful on the roads – head-on collisions are common.) But a remarkable place.
On Oahu, see Haunama Bay, the U.S.S. Arizona, and the U.S.S. Missouri next door to it, go to the North Shore – where in February you are liable to see someone surf a 30 foot wave (you’ll be stunned) in a bay that is so calm in summer that toddlers play in the water checking out the turtles. Shop Ala Moana shopping center. Maybe run into a film crew filming Hawaii 5-0.
Oh and the weather’s good.
What’s the weather like where you all are? Yeah, I couldn’t help myself…
OK people – the thread is hijacked. Get out your little umbrellas….
Don’t forget your Obama pilgrimage. Here’s Toot’s condo. If that isn’t “the best place” – what is? And only a block from the hospital that doesn’t remember his birth.
Never mind, but you can use it as a landmark to Wailoa Shave Ice.
Veggies ‘n Such tried putting toys in their Prudent Meals, but not even a free Captain Push Up action figure could keep the kids from crying over the fact that they had to eat…veggies and such.
VnS isn’t a successful business yet, but a tax credit, a stimulus, an earmark, a bailout, and a reconciliation bill would rectify that dilemma. Like lawsuits, that’s are how good things get done.
WTF alternative universe are we living in? This is just getting WAY OUT OF CONTROL with these idiots!
Monet (seriously?) what was mom looking at the water lilies whe she had you. She works for the gov and she probably lives in gov housing too!
Laws of Unintended Consequences……..too much soy cause cancer! MORONS we have elected.
Does the woman not know how to say NO to her kids?
I wonder what this silly bimbo is doing around her kids all day that their attention is “monopolized” by Happy Meal toys.
Does she just grumble all day watching them strapped into a chair playing away thinking she is powerless over a TOY?
Yet others have to get a license for a pet….
If she’s this stupid, I agree, call Child Protective Services.
True, but driving up Haleakala is great, as is Iao Valley. Stay away from Kaanapali and Lahaina.
Good humpback whale viewing from shore in February.
I don’t understand. The woman complains that her children clamor to go because of the toy and that the toy monopolizes their attention. She also acknowledges that the food seems beside the point[.]”
The the clamor and attention monopolization would likely be unchanged even if the happy meal contained different food.
So how is this woman being injured by the food?
If she claims that her children are being injured by the food, then she’s admitting that she’s feeding her children harmful food.
I’d really like to read the complaint that was filed on her behalf because it seems as if the McDonald’s lawyers will have no problem winning a motion to dismiss.
See my post #9 – she is not simply a concerned mother – she is a zealot with a mandate. On your dime. Ok, technically on California’s dime, but we’ll all have to make up their deficit eventually – Marxist policy demands we do.
Here is a thought:
Don’t use the television as a baby sitter! No ads for McDonalds. Real simple.
Next: Cook food at home! There is a thought, just provide quality food in your own kitchen.
It is not the job of McDonalds to provide your child with all their nutrition needs.
Vegetables that enviroweenies are making impossible to grow without water in the Valley?
Monet probably sends her kids to daycare, but a silly toy is the focus of her angst. How sad.
On a lighter note, Spacey is a woman of taste, therefore I recommend the Mauna Kea resort on the Big Island. Or it’s neighbor the Hapuna Prince. Each have their own beautiful beach and the Prince has some great packages right now. Get the pckg with breakfast. They do a great job and you can watch the wales from your breakfast table. Aloha.
There’s a McDonald’s not even a mile from my house. I have a two year old. Because it’s got a Playland I take him there on occasion because it’s the only playground where I can sit and relax while he plays. Whenever we drive by there, without fail he’ll scream his head off if we don’t go in the parking lot. It’s gotten to the point where if I can I find an alternate route so he doesn’t scream in the car.
But you know what? I don’t give in. For him, it’s going to remain a treat. This woman doesn’t understand that she should be setting the limits for her kids. And that makes her a bad mother.
My twisted synapses are a direct result of too much Mad Magazine and H.P. Lovecraft. Looks something like this.
Ok, I’ll play the race card! Why does it seem that all these California lawsuit queens are single black women. The Walmart crew, the McDonald crew, et al. I look upon these folks as reparations wannabe’s who didn’t own a farm in Georgia. While we have Obie and Eric in the “justice” seat, we have to get our payback from the man.
My Momma didn’t need no lawyer or ordinance from the city to keep me from crying. She had a great tool in my Dad’s razor strap. For those of you too young to have seen a razor strap it was about the size of a wide leather belt with no buckle.
My Momma’s preferred tools of correction were the wooden yard stick or a paddle-ball paddle. Occassionally the open hand slap for the inappropriate cuss word now and then. And you know what, I deserved every one of them.
Ah, the life of a liberal:
“My life; someone else’s fault”.
How comforting it must be to always blame someone else.
This is just another prime example of the Progressive Mutant.
“Two in the hat” takes care of that!
OK Rogue: We ABUSED children need to take out our frustrations on the MOTHERS at the Center for Science in the Interest of Intruding on the Public.
As a child I can well recall trying to pester my mother for something. I can not even imagine continuing to do so after she said NO. I bet Monet Parham really wants a free Super Size but is afraid to ask.
RACE? I don’t know-maybe- but we have a rather Large white lady here who tried to sue MickyDs for making her Large. When they came up photos of her leaving Winchell’s with an entire shifts’ run of glazed she gave up. And she isn’t even a cop or truck driver-shameful.
===
Let your sidearm be like American Express:
Don’t Leave home without it.
Resistance is mandatory
OT
Sure, if you’re Sarah Palin you can see Wales from your breakfast table, but at the Mauna Kea Beach Resort, it’s more likely to be whales.
I already assumed that.
I was asking about her legal argument.
Like Megyn Kelly, I’m sympathetic to this lawsuit. I don’t think it’s as black and white as some people think, some of these foods can be a bit like illegal drugs… very addictive and bad for you.
It’s called moderation! Your lack of self control is your problem not anybody else’s. And it is that black and white. Some people find the internet addictive ie: Let’s ban the internet! Some people find doughnuts addictive ie: Let’s ban doughnuts! Careful though, some policemen may choose to shoot you instead of enforcing that ban. Your pseudonym belies your liberal kneejerk sympathy. Save your sympathy for those whose liberty is being chipped away daily by the victimhood mentality that pervades what used to be America.