McDonald’s Steps Into Wearables with Step-It
The classic Happy Meal for kids (Cheeseburger, Fries and a Diet Coke) comes in at 539 calories with 23 grams of fat. Will giving away a Mcdonald’s Step-It fitness tracker make that information easier to swallow?
McDonald’s wants to help you walk off that double cheeseburger and fries with a Happy Meals high-tech upgrade: the McDonald’s Step-It fitness tracker.
In a seemingly ironic bid to present themselves as a (wait for it) fitness-focused fast-food company, McDonald’s Happy Meals have swapped out cheap plastic toys for cheap plastic fitness trackers.
The McDonald’s Step-It is very basic pedometer that will track your steps and exercise to encourage kids (and presumably the adults who look after them ) to exercise more.
According to digitaltrends.com:
…The burger chain’s health efforts — and the those of the fast-food industry, for that matter — haven’t been immune to criticism. A 2004 study led by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston found that children who regularly consume fast food are far likelier to pack on extra pounds than those who don’t. And in 2010, a yearlong analysis conducted by researchers from Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity determined that, among the U.S.’s 12 largest fast-food chains, advertising aimed at children between the ages of 2 to 18 actually increased.
Which begs the question: why not ensure long-term health and happiness by simply not eating the Happy Meal in the first place?