"I'm loving it!"

Some people have done a study the conclusion of which is that food in a McDonald's wrapper tastes better to kids. Apparently, "even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids when they were wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches." The article is here:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/08/06/mcdonalds.preschoolers.ap/index.html

Seems about right. The boys love McDonald's french fries and seem to enjoy it even more when they get to eat the fries in the original packaging. In fact when eating at home Baz requests that we not put the fries into a serving dish, preferring to pick them out of the cardboard sleeve. Hadrien prefers catsup with his fries, but once or twice he's insisted that we pour him the McDonald's catsup out of the little disposable pack, not from the bottle at home.

In Vicky's blog she talks about the "consumerization" of her son Teo, and that is certainly so true. There are so many advertising, trade and commercial messages bombarding the kids, and unless you blindfold and earmuff them, it's inevitable that at least some of it - by sheer repetition - is going to get through. I'm not even talking about TV - the kids are limited to an hour a day, and usually it's an educational DVD or Nick Jr.; I mean the everyday environment. Just on the road to and from home, for example, we pass God-knows-how-many billboards. They're colorful and catchy and because we see them everyday, the kids can't help but read them. Hence Hadrien's "Goodbye, dedduwyte" (for a Nivea anti-cellulite cream) and Baz's "Wucky Me!" (Lucky Me Instant Noodles) and "Come...See Us!" (a Suzuki advertisement).

It's cute to see them do it and I admit that we sometimes encourage them to verbalize the billboard advertisements they're reading. Hey, that's how I learned to read: Dad and Mom heard me say "Alaska" as I was looking at the billboard. I wonder how many kids learned to read on EDSA?

Anyway, back to McDonald's. The boys love fries and view it as treat, so it's a once-a-week thing, meant to reward being good and obedient and not throwing any tantrums. They read the "Love ko 'to" slogan on some of the McDonald's advertisements, so now I'll point to one of them, say "McDonald's ... in the Philippines" and they'll respond with the Philippine slogan. They can do Jollibee also ("Bida ang sarap"). Meantime, "McDonald's ... in America" is "I'm loving it!" (McDonald's has apparently regionalized its advertising), but of course Hadrien's got his own version: "McDonald's ... I"m eating it!"