McDonald’s Giving Away Books in Happy Meals

McDonald’s is making changes to its popular Happy Meal.

McDonald’s will be replacing the toys in their Happy Meals with books and it plans to give away more than 17million during the promotion.

Along with Happy Meal Books, the fast food chain also partnered with and donated 100,000 books to the non-profit organization Reading is Fundamental to aid in its literacy program. “We are pleased McDonald’s is helping millions of children discover”.

The small books are only about 4.5 to 5.5 inches tall and Spanish versions will be available at some stores, according to the Los Angeles Times.

What do you think: Genius or evil?

It’s the third time the fast food chain has served miniature paperbacks instead of plastic toys in its Happy Meals. We’ve probably got a stash of them still stuffed under the bed. The giveaway also ran in 2013 and 2015. The company claims that it will have distributed more than 50m books to children by the end of the year through sales and donations, according to Carol H Rasco, president and CEO of RIF, who wrote about the initiative on Medium. In 1989, kids unwrapped Dinosaur Talking Story Books; in 1982, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, and in 1990, Berenstain Bear Books Happy Meal. That’s enough to provide every child in America under the age of 12 with a book. “And it’s undermining the authority of parents and health professionals”.