IOC TOP sponsor McDonald's yesterday announced that its Olympics-based “Champions of Play” program, the QSR's "largest global kids initiative to date," is "built around physical activity and nutrition," according to Emily Bryson York of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. A website “goes live June 4, with a preview launching” today. McDonald’s has “signed up a number of well known athletes” -- including U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson, basketball player Dwight Howard and swimmer Dara Torres, as well as Italian canoer Antonio Rossi and Brazilian swimmer Fernando "Xuxa" Scherer -- to “help motivate the kids and participate in chats.” Up to 200 of the participants "will be selected from 34 [countries] to attend the Games with an adult, go behind the scenes at Olympic venues and meet athletes from their home countries.” Some participants also will “blog about their experiences” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/18).
HAPPY TOYS: The GUARDIAN’s Owen Gibson noted McDonald’s plans to give away 9 million "'activity toys' with its Happy Meals aimed at children” as part of a "Mascotathon" campaign. The toys will measure “how many steps or jumps the recipient makes in a day, with children encouraged to log on to an online game that translates their actions into energy for Games mascots Wenlock and Mandeville.” A second wave of activity during the Olympics “will give away vouchers for free sport sessions as part of a marketing strategy that will aim to counter criticism" of QSR's involvement with the event. McDonald’s said that its campaign, promoted by “a regional tour by the London 2012 mascots around its outlets, would have a positive effect on children's health” (GUARDIAN, 4/17). The mascots will “carry out a three-month regional tour of McDonald's restaurants across the UK, starting this weekend” (MARKETINGMAGAZINE.co.uk, 4/16).
