Would you like books with that?

Would you like books with that?

McDonald’s NZ to include half a million children’s books with Happy Meals

McDonald’s New Zealand might just become the country's largest distributor of children's books for the month of August.

McDonald’s is swapping toys for half a million children’s books nationwide during its Happy Meal promotion which runs through August.

The books are from the educational Eye Wonder series, published by DK Books, with six titles including Earth, Oceans, Rainforest, Stars and Planets, Big Cats and Arctic and Antarctic. A book is included with every Happy Meal sold.

McDonald’s NZ managing director Patrick Wilson says, “By delivering these books into the hands of our families via Happy Meals we aim to inspire children and their parents to read and learn together.

“The books are a natural extension of how we see Happy Meals evolving and how we can use our scale as New Zealand’s largest chain of family restaurants positively,” adds Mr Wilson.

Swapping toys for books in Happy Meals is also an effort to boost literacy, and McDonald’s New Zealand has partnered with Member of Parliament for Manurewa, Louisa Wall, to provide her with 5,000 books. Ms Wall will distribute the books to families and organisations within her electorate.

“There are some New Zealand households who own very few books, so we hope this donation will help fill the gap and encourage families to read together,” says Ms Wall.

McDonald’s previously included books in Happy Meals in New Zealand several years ago. For many years McDonald’s has only advertised the healthier choices available in Happy Meals and today over 50 percent of Happy Meals purchased include at least one of those choices. As part of McDonald’s global commitments around marketing to children, McDonald’s New Zealand now includes health and wellbeing messaging in its television advertising.

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