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Happy Meal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A "Happy Meal" is a meal specially tailored for children, sold at the fast-food chain McDonald's since June 1979. A toy is typically included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a small box or paper bag with the McDonald's logo.
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In the United States the Happy meal includes:
- a side order consisting of small order of fries or pre-cut apples.
- a child size soft drink, milk, chocolate milk or apple juice.
- a hamburger, cheeseburger, or four-piece order of Chicken McNuggets.
In some locations such as in Australia, the choices have been expanded to included items such as a grilled cheese sandwich (known as a "Fry Kid"), or more "healthy" options such as apple slices, salads or pasta, as one or more of the options.[1]
In the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries, McDonald's has recently introduced a "healthy option" to the Happy Meal - children can now choose to have milk or a fruit juice drink instead of a soft drink, and bags of dried fruit (or a whole piece of fruit such as an apple, or carrot sticks) in place of fries.
- The Mighty Kids Meal is a meal from McDonald's designed for preteens, who are older than those who might eat a Happy Meal, but still not hungry enough to eat from the full menu. The concept is similar to the Happy Meal, in that it provides a burger or Chicken McNuggets, french fries, and a drink and toy. The difference is that the Mighty Kid's Meal provides more food than what is typically found in a Happy Meal, providing a double cheeseburger instead of a cheeseburger or a hamburger, and more Chicken McNuggets (6 vs 4), plus a larger drink.
McDonald's began offering the Mighty Kids Meal in 2001, but the concept was originally developed by Burger King in the form of its Big Kids Meal. Its advertising campaign involved kids being put in infantile situations, to represent that the regular Happy Meal was for younger kids. In the UK it was called the Happy Meal Extra
- Adult Happy Meal
- To make the trademark internationally recognizable, McDonald's now uses the term "Happy Meal" in most countries. There are some exceptions, such as in Quebec, where it is also called "Joyeux festin" (literally meaning "happy little feast") but is called "Happy Meal" in France.
- In Japan, it was called Okosama Lunch from 1987 to 1988, then Okosama Set from 1988 to 1995 (Okosama is a polite word for "child"). It has been Happy Set ever since.
- In Germany, it was known as "Juniortüte" (Bag for Juniors in German) until 1999.
- In Spanish-speaking Hispanic America and Puerto Rico it is known as "Cajita Feliz" (Happy Little box in Spanish). In Spain, it is called "Happy Meal."
- In Brazil is known as "McLanche Feliz" (Happy McSnack in Portuguese), however in Portugal it is also called "Happy Meal."
The Happy Meal was the brainchild of St. Louis, Missouri advertising manager Dick Brams, who in 1977 contracted Kansas City-based advertising firm Bernstein-Rein to develop a children's meal item that would promote McDonald's as a restaurant for families, specifically those with smaller children.[2]
The very first Happy Meal in 1979 was the Circus Wagon Happy Meal. It cost one dollar and contained either a McDoodler stencil, a puzzle book, a McWrist wallet, an ID bracelet or McDonaldland character erasers.[3] The Circus Wagon Happy Meal consisted of a hamburger or cheeseburger, twelve-ounce soft drink, a small order of french fries, and a "McDonaldland Cookie Sampler"; i.e., a small portion of cookies.
Often the Happy Meal is themed to promote a current movie. The first such promotion was the Star Trek Meal, to promote Star Trek: The Motion Picture in December 1979. The packaging used for the Star Trek Meal consisted of various images and games related to the film, as well as a comic strip adaptation of the film (consumers had to buy numerous meals in order to complete the set).
The Happy Meal did not introduce the practice of providing small toys to children. In Canada, the promotion prior to the Happy Meal was called the "Treat of the Week," where a different toy was available free on request each week; it continued after the Happy Meal was introduced.
Happy Meal toys have become increasingly elaborate in recent years. While initially they were little more than a cheap plastic trinket such as a frisbee or ball, they have since evolved into much more sophisticated toys, many of which are a tie-in to some existing toy line or contemporary motion picture. Past examples of recent Happy Meal toys have included Ty Beanie Babies, Neopets toys and a trading card, Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards, Mattel brands Barbie and Hot Wheels, Hello Kitty, Hummers, and toys based on many Disney movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and cartoons or shows such as Power Rangers and movies such as Surf's Up.
The term Happy Meal is also a name given to a combined Ethernet and SCSI adapter used in Sun Microsystems machines.[4] The interface name is shown as hme when one views the interfaces via the ifconfig command. See also Big Mac (disambiguation)
- ^ Fix this reference #3
- ^ Fix this reference #1
- ^ Fix this reference #2
- ^ Ethernet interfaces - what's in a name?. Mike Belch (Sun Microsystems blog) (29 May 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
