BY BRYANNA STOIBER, Editor
McDonald’s has a new goal of giving away 15 million pieces of literature by 2015.
The always popular and famous fast food chain has started handing out fiction and non-fiction books with its happy meals instead of its usual toys.
The McDonald’s “Happy Readers Campaign” is trying to solve the major problem that “one in three children in the UK does not own a book,” according to the National Literacy Trust.
While some think that the McDonald’s idea will work, other experts are more sceptical about the campaign having a successful impact on its customers
“It’s not the most healthful choice,” registered dietician from Nutritious Life Stacia Helfand said. “It’s not a good idea to link fast food and education.”
Junior Juan Delgado has been working at the Sugar Grove McDonald’s location for almost a year. Based on his background knowledge of the company, he thinks the book giveaway movement will necessarily be a success for McDonald’s.
“I honestly think it would negatively affect it because people or kids want to come to McDonald’s for the food, not for education,” Delgado said.
The book giveaway movement has kicked off with Stars and Planets, Big Cats and Oceans, which are considered healthy reading material. McDonald’s Vice President, Alistar Macrow, said that feedback about its book giveaway pilot has been “overwhelmingly positive,” and that nine out of ten parents wanted to see more book promotions from the fast food chain.
McDonald’s plans to give millions of books in the next couple of years to its customers, and the readers can decide wether this new movement is a step in the direction.
“I think it’s a good idea, but at the same time I think they’d lose customers from the ‘educational’ movement,” Delgado said. “I’ve been surprised by statistics that show that one in three children don’t own a book, and that half don’t enjoy reading.”