From today’s Wall Street Journal:
A growing number of auto companies are trying to place ads and products in child-oriented areas such as gyms that cater to kids, social-networking sites where young people hang out and the Saturday-morning cartoons. Their aim is to spur sales to parents — and, down the road, to the children themselves.
And then there’s the promotion that got 5-year-old Daniel Lower-Basch his own tiny Hummer, which he calls his “red monster.” He got one of the toy Hummers given out in McDonald’s Corp. Happy Meals in August — the first time a car maker directly offered versions of its vehicles in the meals. That month, the General Motors Corp. brand also launched a Web site, HUMMERkids.com, with games and printable coloring pages of H3 models. Daniel, of Alexandria, Va., says of his toy car: “I think it’s really cool. When I push it, it goes for a long time.”
How perfect is it that McDonald’s is shilling for Hummer? Are there two better symbols of depraved gluttony? What kind of parents would ever want their child to grow up to drive such an irresponsible vehicle (or want them to grow up with the assumption that they’ll be driving a car at all)? No matter how much MTV I watch, I’m still never prepared to read stuff like this.