Crowning glory
I’m still looking for the catch in the recent announcement from Burger King executives that the fast food giant is revamping its Kids’ Meals to include healthier items. This move comes on the heels of new advertising guidelines the company must follow when targeting kids under the age of 12. According to those guidelines, any marketing done to this age group must feature meals that contain less than 560 calories, 30 percent or less of which may come from fat, and no more than 10 percent from added sugars. Of course, that still isn’t what I’d consider “lite fare” for your average 5-year-old. But it looks like Burger King may outdo itself in terms of actually creating these meals.
They’ll be launching this new campaign with a Kids’ Meal that contains flame-broiled chicken tenders and unsweetened, organic applesauce. Even better is their new alternative to French fries: Red apples that have been peeled and cut into sticks that resemble fries. In a particularly genius move, these BK Fresh Apple Fries will even be served in the same containers as the regular potato version. I know it’s targeted at kids, but I have to say: That’s something I’d order in a heartbeat and wish Burger King had thought of it years ago.
Granted, many kids have grown accustomed to their usual burger-and-fries meal and may balk at this change. But Burger King has done a good job of upping the “fun factor” of these healthier options, so I’m sure the novelty will be enough to get most kids to try it, and then, hopefully, they’ll like it enough to forget the fact that they wanted fries in the first place.
Okay, that may be wishful thinking. But even getting kids to choose a healthy (well, healthier) meal over what they’re used to would be a major nutritional victory for pediatricians — not to mention parents — everywhere.
I suppose if there’s a fly to be found in this ointment it’s that the beverage of choice accompanying these new-and-improved meals is low-fat milk, which we both know is anything but a health food (except for baby cows). My advice? Try the Fresh Apple Fries, but bring your own all-natural juice box.
Source:
“Burger King tries apple fries in new health kick,” MSNBC (www.msnbc.com), 9/12/07
