McDonald's Happy Meal toys.....

[jimsmegos]

Been pondering this one for a while now and wanted to get everyone's opinion. The talk forever has been that McDonald's uses movie tie ins to promote food sales to children. While at one point I saw that as plausible but nowadays it seems to me that it's the other way around. My observation is that licensed properties benefit more from the association than McDonald's, meaning that they get a better shot at reaching the potential movie going / television watching audience this way versus traditional marketing / advertising methods.

What say you?

[spacecaps]

Interesting theory but I think it's to get kids into the restaurant. Remember when there used to only be 4 toys per tie in usually one different toy per week for a month and then on to the next promotion. Take a look at their last toy for Smurfs 2. There weren't four Smurfs, there was like 24 Smurfs. Kids that wanted a specific Smurf kept going back till they got the one they wanted. Also if you were inclined to collect the whole set, you were making an awful lot of trips to McDonalds. I think picking the right movie is also key for the franchise too. It sure didn't help put and rumps in the seats though. Smurfs may not have been a hit but having a lot of figures kept the customers coming back and that promo is over and done with now. Meanwhile a restaurant like Subway had a Lone Ranger tie in back in June. It's still one going. A few months ago, McDonalds did a Batman Brave and the Bold series. We didn't go out and buy and Brave & The Bold products but we sure kept going back to McDonalds for Happy Meals. Burger King did very well with their Star Wars glasses back in the 80's too. I'm sure that tie in helped them more than Burger King helped Star Wars.

[johnnystorm]

Either way, kids interested in happy meals only get them if the parents take them there and buy them. If you don't approve of them, DON'T take your kid there. We don't go to McDonalds often, once in awhile. My kid isn't freaking out over missing toys. It's ok as a parent to say NO. I get tired of select groups forcing their opinions onto the rest of us. End rant.

On the other side, the Multi toy promotions seem aimed more at toy collecting adults than kids. Especially when they do the beanie babies, or miniature dolls. A few years ago they dida 100 piece Disney set that I tried to put together, but we didn't buy too many Happy Meals. We hunted them down at yard sales & flea markets... And my daughter enjoyed rooting them out, kinda gave her a treasure hunt to check them off.

[spacecaps]

My friend and I were just talking about happy meal toys the other day. Does anybody collect this stuff? It doesn't seem like there is any market for any Happy Meal toys and I've never heard anyone say, "I'm really looking for the ______ Happy Meal toy from ____." unless the promotion is ongoing or close to current. My sister hounded down every single one of those Smurfs from the first movie a couple of years ago but that was more caught up in the moment. Once a few months pass there doesn't seem to be any interest in the toys ever again and I've never heard a toy collector get nostalgic about their childhood Happy Meal toy collection. As soon as my son loses interest in his happy meal toy (about one or two days after going) I throw it away. Most of the time the toy doesn't even make it from the car to the house. It just sits in the back seat until I vacuum the car out.

This past summer my mother brought up four huge popcorn tins filled with Happy Meal toys that she saved. My bother and I didn't even know she saved them and they ran from the early 80's to the late 90's. Outside of the Snarf straw holder (not sure which restaurant that came from) and a rubber Captain Power ring (Roy Rogers, I think) all four tins got tossed.

[megomania]

My friend and I were just talking about happy meal toys the other day. Does anybody collect this stuff? It doesn't seem like there is any market for any Happy Meal toys and I've never heard anyone say, "I'm really looking for the ______ Happy Meal toy from ____." unless the promotion is ongoing or close to current. My sister hounded down every single one of those Smurfs from the first movie a couple of years ago but that was more caught up in the moment. Once a few months pass there doesn't seem to be any interest in the toys ever again and I've never heard a toy collector get nostalgic about their childhood Happy Meal toy collection. As soon as my son loses interest in his happy meal toy (about one or two days after going) I throw it away. Most of the time the toy doesn't even make it from the car to the house. It just sits in the back seat until I vacuum the car out.

This past summer my mother brought up four huge popcorn tins filled with Happy Meal toys that she saved. My bother and I didn't even know she saved them and they ran from the early 80's to the late 90's. Outside of the Snarf straw holder (not sure which restaurant that came from) and a rubber Captain Power ring (Roy Rogers, I think) all four tins got tossed.

My moms has four or five plastic tubs full of unopened HM toys.......

-Chris

[ScottA]

I have the DC and Marvel figures from McDs, BK, Subway, Jack In the Box for sale.

I also have the B:TAS display MIB for sale too. Guess I should put them in the Mall.

[jwyblejr]

My friend and I were just talking about happy meal toys the other day. Does anybody collect this stuff? It doesn't seem like there is any market for any Happy Meal toys and I've never heard anyone say, "I'm really looking for the ______ Happy Meal toy from ____." unless the promotion is ongoing or close to current. My sister hounded down every single one of those Smurfs from the first movie a couple of years ago but that was more caught up in the moment. Once a few months pass there doesn't seem to be any interest in the toys ever again and I've never heard a toy collector get nostalgic about their childhood Happy Meal toy collection. As soon as my son loses interest in his happy meal toy (about one or two days after going) I throw it away. Most of the time the toy doesn't even make it from the car to the house. It just sits in the back seat until I vacuum the car out.

This past summer my mother brought up four huge popcorn tins filled with Happy Meal toys that she saved. My bother and I didn't even know she saved them and they ran from the early 80's to the late 90's. Outside of the Snarf straw holder (not sure which restaurant that came from) and a rubber Captain Power ring (Roy Rogers, I think) all four tins got tossed.

Oh there are Happy Meal collectors out there. They have conventions and such. My guess is for the most part,they tend to keep their heads down. Imagine the grief they would get from collecting that stuff. I'm sure it's worse than the flak we get.

[Access]

There were some cool happy meal toys, like the planet of the apes stuff in the late 90 s and thenmcdonalds food transformers from the mid 80s. I also know many here collect the universal monster set that bk did some years back that was pretty cool.

[ctc]

>the Multi toy promotions seem aimed more at toy collecting adults than kids

Yeah. I can remember adult collectors back in the early 90's getting into things. It's not like you NEED to entice kids to eat the food.

Don C.

[bgrimm77]

all I know is that I was going crazy for a minion......I didn't want to spend the $60 at tru for a talking one....... after I spent $37 for a talking minion at walmart, bam......they had minions as a happymeal toy. poop