MCDONALD'S has made a major change to Happy Meals for the first time in 38 years.
The fast food giant has removed the iconic smile from millions of boxes across the country.
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The move aims to communicate to children that it is okay not to be happy all the time, helping encourage family conversations about emotions during Mental Health Awareness Week.
This follows new research commissioned by McDonald’s which reveals that almost half (48%) of UK children feel like they must be happy all the time, even if they do not want to be.
The limited-edition Happy Meal boxes have been designed to encourage parents to talk to their children about how they are feeling.
Available alongside the limited-edition Happy Meal boxes are sheets of stickers that showcase an array of emotions that children experience, enabling children to illustrate their feelings directly onto the boxes themselves.
McDonald’s is working with BBCChildren in Need to provide families with access to a dedicated hub of resources designed to encourage candid conversations on emotional well-being with children.
It's in collaboration with the charity’s Mental Health Awareness Week campaign shining a light on the emotional weight children and young people across the UK carry.
Thehubis available to access via a QR code on the limited-edition Happy Meal boxes, as well as via the McDonald’s website and social media channels.
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Football legend and father-of-five, Rio Ferdinand, has teamed up with McDonald’s to support the campaign.
He is drawing on his own personal parenting experiences to highlight to parents and families the reasons why it is so important to have conversations about emotional well-being with your children.
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Ferdinand said: “I’ve experienced first-hand with my own children how good communication and encouraging kids to embrace how they truly feel can build trust and help to manage emotions – no matter how big or small.
“It’s our job to empower our children to express themselves freely and support them every step of the way in understanding that it’s okay to not be happy all the time."
The research also shows the emphasis parents put on their kids to feel positive all the time, as 74% of parents claim that it is important to stop their children from feeling sad.
As well as this, almost two-thirds (63%) of parents said they always encourage their children to be happy.
Louise Page, Head of Consumer Communications & Partnerships at McDonald’s, said: “We’ve been proudly supporting BBC Children in Need for four years now, and we know how important it is to help stimulate open conversations about mental health in families.
"Through this change to our iconic Happy Meal box, we hope that many more families are encouraged to kickstart positive conversations around children’s emotions and wellbeing.”
Fozia Irfan OBE, Director of Impact and Influence at BBC Children in Need, said: “Ensuring children are happy is at the top of all parents’ priorities, but allowing children to express themselves and giving them the necessary space to articulate when they aren’t feeling at their best is of equal importance.
“Mental Health Awareness Week is the perfect opportunity to shine a light on the vital impact we can make on children and young people’s mental wellbeing and we are thrilled to be working with McDonald’s to provide the necessary support parents and families may need to start the conversations with their children.”
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Customers can donate the cash equivalent of their MyMcDonald’s Rewards points to BBC Children in Need through the McDonald’s App, to support the company’s commitment to helping children’s wellbeing.
McDonald's is introducing a major change for Happy Meals - for the first time in 38 years. McDonald's, which has more restaurants in Birmingham than anywhere else in the UK outside of London, has removed the 'smile' logo from boxes for the first time in DECADES. The Happy Meal first appeared in the UK in the 1980s.
MCDONALD'S has made a major change to Happy Meals for the first time in 38 years. The fast food giant has removed the iconic smile from millions of boxes across the country.
There is no age limit for grabbing a Happy Meal at McDonald's even though the toy might make it look like the particular meal is only for kids. The meal is indeed designed to attract children with colorful packaging and exciting toys but there is no age limit on the Happy Meal.
During the summer of 1979, McDonald's premiered the Happy Meal nationally. The first boxes were circus wagons. The first toys were tops, stencils, wallets, puzzles and erasers. And initially, meals included a hamburger or cheeseburger, fries, a soft drink and cookies.
During a Q1 earnings call last month, McDonald's officials said they had started to implement "small changes" and improvements to create "hotter and juicier" burgers. Previously, officials said those tweaks included hotter, meltier cheese, adjusting grill setting for a better sear and more.
In an effort to make their kids' meals a tad bit healthier by reducing excess calories, sodium, and saturated fat, McDonald's is making a few changes to their beloved Happy Meal and saying goodbye to staple items, including cheeseburgers and chocolate milk.
Still lovin' those Happy Meals. $1.10 -- Cost of the first Happy Meal, introduced in 1979 as the Circus Wagon Happy Meal. It included a burger, fries, drink, McDonaldland cookies and penny toys such as a McDoodler stencil or a McDonald's character eraser.
The survey found that an average medium Big Mac meal has risen in price from $5.69 in 2014 to $9.72 in 2024, an increase of about 70%. The price of a medium Big Mac meal ranged in price from $7.89 in Houston to $15 in Seattle.
According to the prices listed on the old-school menu, a Big Mac was $2.45, a Big Mac meal was $4.59, a six-piece McNuggets cost $2.35, a Happy Meal cost $3.36, and an egg McMuffin was $1.95.
McDonald's decided to bring some joy to the lives of seniors, by letting junior costumers surprise their grandparents with a Happy Meal Senior: A home-delivered Happy Meal including a personalized greeting. McDonald's Sverige. Happy Meal Senior.
Unlike kids who have to nag their parents for a Happy Meal, adults can get their boxed meals whenever they want because they have the money. And some adults went big. One drive-thru order included 10 Happy Meals (plus six chicken McNuggets, because why not?).
McDonald's is inviting customers to feel like kids again with the latest iteration of the Happy Meal — one that's intended for adults. This week the fast-food chain launched the Kerwin Frost Box, a collaboration with artist and comedian Kerwin Frost (a self-proclaimed lifelong fan of the brand).
- The first-ever Happy Meal toy was a McDoodler stencil. Simple yet captivating! McDonald's leveraged the love of movies among kids by featuring characters from popular films as Happy Meal toys, creating excitement among young customers.
McDonald's (US) stopped selling toys with its Happy Meals in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company wanted to reduce the risk of spreading the virus by eliminating the need for customers to touch the toys. McDonald's has not yet started selling toys with its Happy Meals again.
McDonald's is owned by different shareholders, as it's a publicly traded company. According to CNN Business reports, most of this company's owners are institutional investors, who make up 70.14% of the outstanding shares. Individual owners only make up about 0.31%.
Currently, when ordering a Happy Meal, children have a choice of a hamburger, four-piece chicken McNuggets, or six-piece chicken McNuggets with kids' fries or apples and a drink.
McDonald's has made small modifications to the way it cooks and prepares its much-loved beef burgers, enhancing all the elements customers enjoy most. From adding onions to patties at the grill for extra flavour, to changing the sear of the beef patties – it all adds up to its most delicious burgers yet.
Enjoy an easy meal for kids when you order a Happy Meal® with options like a Hamburger or Chicken McNuggets®, complete with kids fries, apple slices, choice of beverage, and a Happy Meal toy!
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