Brazil News
| SAO PAULO – The Brazilian Consumer Protection Agency, Procon, on Tuesday, confirmed a R$3.2 million real ($1.8 million USD) fine against McDonald's restaurants. The announcement was made by the Alana Institute, a social development agency, which questioned the practice of including toys along with Happy Meals.
Unhappy Ronald McDonald (photo: unrealitymag.com)
Procon's Sao Paulo office confirmed the fine, but gave no details of the decision. McDonald's can still appeal.
In a statement, McDonald's said it does not comment specifically on details of open legal issues but that it “rigorously respects the legal guidelines in communicating with their public” and follows a “strict code of advertising self-regulation and adheres to obligations arrived at together with other large companies in the food sector.”
According to the Alana Institute, who in 2010 took the case to Procon through its Child and Consumption Project, the sale of food with toys for children “creates a harmful logic and encourages the formation of distorted values, as well as the formation of eating habits that are harmful to health.”
McDonald's also said in their statement, that toys can be purchased separately, unrelated to the purchase of other products. “As for the McLanche Feliz (Happy Meal), the chain makes it clear (to franchise operators) that the toys are to be sold separately, IE purchased as unrelated products. Therefore, the company is convinced that it respects all norms of current legislation in relation to advertising and in relation to business practices.”
Read also: More Articles from Brazil Dispatch
Brazilian online news source for this article: G1 Sao Paulo
Do you like this post? Please link back to this article by copying one of the codes below.
HTML link code:
0 comments:
Post a Comment