The National Council on Problem Gambling and The Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling are taking things too far by calling for McDonald’s restaurants to stop putting a Super Mario slot machine toy in its Happy Meals.
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Foshan Yirun Electronic Co., Ltd., Experts in Manufacturing and Exporting pandora box game board, Mario slot game board and 1284 more Products. A Verified CN Gold Supplier on Alibaba.com. Super Mario Bros. Is a 1993 American science-fiction comedy adventure fantasy film based on the Japanese video game series of the same name by Nintendo and distributed by The Walt Disney Studios through Hollywood Pictures, thus becoming one of several rare occasions where Disney and Nintendo have collaborated.The film was directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, written by Parker.
That is, unless cheeseburgers have suddenly been determined to be some kind of gateway drug.
Of course, no one can justifiably stand behind the idea of marketing gambling to children.
However, a Super Mario slot machine toy in a McDonald’s Happy Meal can hardly be considered marketing material for a casino.
McDonald’s is not a casino
The reason this is not an issue is that McDonald’s isn’t a casino or gambling establishment of any kind.
The chain is selling debatably unhealthy fast food, not slots and table games. Even the half a dozen McDonald’s restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip don’t have slots.
Executive Director of the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling Jennifer Kruse said the organization was shocked when it found the slot machine toy in a Happy Meal at a Florida McDonald’s.
She went on to say Nintendo and McDonald’s need to pay more attention to the messages their products are promoting to children. Kruse said kids can be very impressionable, and despite gambling restrictions for minors, research reveals adolescents are doing it. Plus, they are at a higher risk for developing gambling problems than adults.
Not a McDonald’s responsibility
While all this may be true, a toy is still a toy. Plus, the responsibility for preventing underage gambling and reducing problem gambling lies with casinos and the governments that authorize them, not fast food chains.
The problem, as Kruse sees it, is that there is a double standard in play here. She believes gambling represents the same threat to kids that alcohol, drugs, and tobacco does.
In fact, Kruse says if a Happy Meal toy featured Super Mario with bloodshot eyes holding a bottle of beer and smoking a cigarette, people would be up in arms. But since this one merely shows Super Mario playing a slot, no one cares.
Kruse is correct in saying that problem gambling is a growing public health issue in the US today. However, linking the issue to a Happy Meal toy with a slot machine is just too much of a stretch.
The WSOP mascot and marketing to minors
Earlier this year, When the World Series of Poker introduced Chippy, a six-foot-tall plush-foam stack chips mascot wearing over-sized novelty sunglasses, headphones, a crooked WSOP.com hat, and a gold-grilled perma-smile, it stunk of marketing gaming to minors.
The difference is that Chippy is there to market the WSOP and the game of poker. Skill game or not, poker is gambling, and plush foam mascots are for kids.
A toy is just a toy
Super Mario, Nintendo, McDonald’s restaurants and Happy Meals have nothing to do with gambling. A slot machine toy does very little to change that.
We can forget that gambling is perfectly legal and government sanctioned in close to half of 50 states. We can ignore the fact that there’s nothing really wrong with promoting it.
Mario Slot Machine Toy Game
However, we can’t change the fact that a Happy Meal toy is just that. Or, that these problem gambling groups should probably pick their battles a little more carefully.
Mario Slot Machine Toy Walmart
Photo by Ratana21 / Shutterstock.com
Mario Slot Machine Toys
It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information. The Super Mario series Happy Meal toys that were available from July 24, 2018 until August 20, 2018 A Happy Meal is a kids' meal sold at the American fast food chain McDonald's. The Happy Meals usually have a tie-in promotion of a franchise with a toy relating to the promotion. The Happy Meal box is also designed after the thing it is promoting and sometimes includes activities on it. The Mario franchise has had tie-in releases as early as Super Mario Bros. 3. Promotions[edit]Game-specific[edit]Super Mario Bros. 3 (August 1990)[edit]The four tie-in Super Mario Bros. 3 Happy Meal toys, as shown in an official commercial The Super Mario Bros. 3 promotion took place in August 1990, and it was the Nintendo's first tie-in with a fast food restaurant.[1] One of four possible toys were included in a Happy Meal, each being specifically named and numbered:
There is a fifth toy of a Raccoon Mario, which was specifically designed for children younger than three. They were not packaged inside Happy Meals, and one could only be provided if it was specifically requested for a child who was younger than three. Unlike the other toys, the Raccoon Mario toy is not numbered and is erroneously named 'Super Mario' on the included paper slip. Mario Kart 8 (July 2014)[edit]The July 2014 Mario Kart 8 Happy Meal toys From July 4-31, 2014[2], eight toys based on Mario Kart 8 were included in Happy Meals. Seven of them are racing figurines and one is a plastic Mario Cap with the Mario Kart 8 logo on it. The figurines include sticker sheets for adding character logos and other details to the karts. The racing figurines include:
Mario franchise[edit]Take the Mario Challenge (September 2006)[edit]The September 2006 collection of McDonald's toys, as shown in the commercial From September 1st through September 21st, 2006,[3] there was a Mario-themed promotion for Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals titled Take the Mario Challenge. The promotion encouraged kids to be active and play outdoors with their included toy, which included a paper slip with a 'challenge' for them to complete. Six toys were released for the promotion, and two of them are each based on a certain Mario spinoff title. The Take the Mario Challenge was promoted on the official Happy Meal website and on a television commercial. As a part of the promotion, the Happy Meal website hosted a contest where 100 random participants would win a Nintendo DS Lite included with two Mario games.[3]
April-May 2017[edit]The April-May 2017 set of the Super Mario Happy Meal toys A wave of eight Super Mario-branded toys were included in McDonald's Happy Meals in April through May 2017.
July-August 2018[edit]Nintendo released another wave of Super Mario-branded toys starting from July 30, 2018 through August 20, 2018.[4] One of eight toys were included in the Happy Meal:
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