Almost six months ago, the Center for Science in the Public Interest gave McDonald’s an ultimatum: Remove toys from your Happy Meals or we’ll sue. Now the group has made good on its threat.

CSPI has teamed up with a mother from Sacramento to file the lawsuit, which also accuses the company of false advertising.

From the L.A. Times:

The lawsuit alleges that “McDonald’s exploits very young California children and harms their health by advertising unhealthy Happy Meals with toys directly to them” and that “children 8 years old and younger do not have the cognitive skills and the developmental maturity to understand the persuasive intent of marketing and advertising.”

“I don’t think it’s OK to entice children with Happy Meals with the promise of a toy,” says the California mom who has joined the CSPI’s suit. She says that she noticed the siren song of Happy Meal toys this summer when her two children began requesting more trips to McDonald’s in order to collect more Shrek toys.

“We’re not trying to force McDonald’s to sell apples and sprouts,” explains CSPI’s director of litigation. “We’re just trying to stop McDonalds from marketing to 3-year-olds.”

McDonald’s sued for marketing Happy Meals to children [L.A. Times]

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