DEL.ICIO.USFast-food toys becoming more educational
For restaurants, keeping customers happy protects bottom line
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Isabella Manis, 5, smiles with glee as she fiddles with her new kids meal toy while lunching with her dad at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Decatur. But the toy is no movie-inspired figurine or stuffed animal.
Instead, it’s a game based on the PBS kids show “Between the Lions.” Kids are encouraged to “make up a funny story” using three cards from a perforated sheet of simple words such as “pickle” and “girl.”
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A worked with the Kennedy Space Center to create a toy that includes a set of cards that teach kids about the space program. The chain has been marketing educational toys since 1998.
Frank Niemeir/fniemeir@ajc.com
William Booker and Fisher Isbell, both 2 1/2, enjoy the toy with their kids meal at the Chick-fil-A in Decatur. Tie-ins with blockbuster movies will always be around, but more fast-food outlets are offering educationally themed toys.
Frank Niemeir/fniemeir@ajc.com
Isabella Manis, 5, enjoys her Chick-fil-A toy at the chain’s outlet in downtown Decatur. ‘They have great toys. The toys are really educational,’ says Isabella’s father, Ricky Manis.
“They have great toys. The toys are really educational,” said Isabella’s father, Ricky Manis, 41.
Increasingly, fast-food chains such as Chick-fil-A are revamping their kids meal schedule with educationally themed toys. The toys — called “premiums” in industry jargon — aren’t just fun, but also aim to teach something.
“People are requesting kids premiums that are more socially responsible,” said Joe Tindall, chief executive and co-owner of Kid Stuff Marketing, a restaurant marketing company based in Kansas. “Parents want variety, healthy options and a fun toy to occupy kids’ time.”
Fast-food chains are trying to improve their image after years of criticism for contributing to the nation’s health problems and high obesity rate, Tindall said.
“Fast-food restaurants want to put on a ‘better face’ in the community,” said Tindall, who added that many chains are also requesting eco-friendly toys and packaging.
The restaurants have a strong incentive to keep customers happy — protecting the bottom line. The industry expects revenues of $156.8 billion this year, a 4.4 percent increase over 2007 sales, according to the National Restaurant Association’s 2008 Restaurant Industry Forecast.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has been marketing its educational toys since 1998. Unable to compete with giants Burger King and McDonald’s for first-tier movie tie-ins, the company decided to market educationally themed toys that incorporate the motto “growing kids inside and out.”
“We thought we could appeal to the moms,” said Steve Nedvidek, a Chick-fil-A marketing senior manager. Nedvidek is a freelance cartoonist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In one Chick-fil-A promotion, which the chain offers several times a year, instead of a toy kids get a miniature book, such as one of the children’s series Little Golden Books.
“When they do a book series, that’s my favorite,” said Alana Booker, a mom who frequents Chick-fil-A with her young children.
Fast-food giants also are part of the trend. Burger King features the Awesome Inch-A-Meter, a Crayola-themed toy that children can roll along a surface to measure lengths. Another example: Flash cards that help children solve math problems.
Wendy’s, the Ohio-based chain being purchased by Atlanta-based Triarc Cos., offers four audiobooks in collaboration with Random House’s popular Magic Tree House series.
The changes do not mean that the fast-food giants will abandon cross-promotional movie-themed premiums, which fetch millions in revenue, Angel Morales, managing director of kids marketing agency C3i, said in an e-mail. C3i is based in Overland Park, Kan.
Although the numbers vary widely from company to company, and edu-toys continue to grow in popularity, they still represent only about two of every 10 toys in a company’s promotion schedule, Morales said.
Some aren’t convinced that the edu-toys are doing either children or parents a service.
“We don’t think that any type of toy should be used to lure kids into fast-food restaurants, even if they call it educational,” said Josh Golin, associate director at the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
