McDonald’s has stooped to a new low by advertising its Happy Meals on the envelopes containing report cards of elementary school students in Seminole County, Florida. Certainly advertising should reach out to the Company’s targeted demographic, even when this includes children. This, however, is just plain badvertising.

The problem with McDonald’s recent advertising is that it is forced on children without any regard for the parents. Sure, kids watch television and read magazines, but parents have some control over what their children see and read. When situations like this happen at school, it leaves parents vulnerable because it doesn’t give them the option to choose what their children are exposed to. 

This is not the first time the School has allowed advertising on its report card envelopes. Prior to McDonald’s, the school’s sponsor was Pizza Hut. But what’s even worse is that with all of the negative feedback and bad press McDonald’s and the school have received, they have both decided to continue running this advertising through the remainder of the school year.