Well, California may have let us all down with their failure to pass Proposition 19 but at least they've gotten one thing right this week. The city of San Francisco has banned fast-food chains from giving away free children's toys with their meals -- a marketing ploy that, frankly, is not a million miles away from child abuse.

After all, the intention of this strategy is to link extremely unhealthy food with the receiving of fun gifts in the minds of children. It is a craven manipulation designed to generate profits at the expense of the health of children. And let's remember, children are particularly susceptible to this form of emotional and psychological manipulation as they are still -- to use Gregory Bateson's phrase -- "learning to learn". Indeed, all marketing aimed at children is no less than a conscious attempt to influence the development of the young mind and train it to be a less critical consumer. When the marketing involves a product that is so unhealthy, it's all the worse.

So well done San Francisco, and here's hoping other places quickly follow suit.

EDIT: reading a bit more about this, it seems that the practice hasn't been completely banned. Just that "restaurant kids' meals [must] meet certain nutritional standards before they could be sold with toys". Not perfect, but it certainly ends the "Happy Meal with Toy" phenomenon, which is a step in the right direction.