McDonald's Happy Meal & Toys

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About McDonald's Happy Meal & Toys

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History of Happy Meal

The Happy Meal was the brainchild of St. Louis, Missouri advertising manager Dick Brams, who in 1977 contracted both Kansas City-based advertising firm Bernstein-Rein and Stolz Advertising Company of St. Louis to develop a children's meal that would promote McDonald's as a restaurant for families, specifically those with smaller children. Stolz Advertising created the original McDonald's children's meal concept several months before Bernstein-Rein and it was known as McDonaldland Fun-To-Go because its mission was also to promote the new drive-through window service that was being introduced to the market at that time. Brams delayed the introduction of Stolz's concept in St. Louis because he wanted to introduce both concepts simultaneously in St. Louis and Kansas City. Fun-To-Go commercials were filmed in St. Louis that featured King Moody, who played Ronald McDonald at the time. The Stolz meal featured the first McDonald's in-meal premiums, based on the video game Space Invaders.

The very first Happy Meal in 1979 in Kansas City was the Circus Wagon Happy Meal and McDonaldland Fun-To-Go in St. Louis. It cost one dollar and contained either a McDoodler stencil, a puzzle book, a McWrist wallet, an ID bracelet or McDonaldland character erasers. The Circus Wagon Happy Meal consisted of a hamburger or cheeseburger, twelve-ounce soft drink, a small order of french fries, and a "McDonaldland Cookie Sampler", a small portion of cookies.

Often the Happy Meal is themed to promote a current family-oriented movie. The first such promotion was the Star Trek Meal, to promote Star Trek: The Motion Picture in December 1979. The packaging used for the Star Trek Meal consisted of various images and games related to the film, as well as a comic strip adaptation of the film. Consumers had to buy numerous meals in order to complete the set. In 1992, McDonalds withdrew their range of Happy Meal toys for the movie Batman Returns, after complaints from parents that the movie was unsuitable for children.

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