Golden arches & magic kingdoms

The Los Angeles Times reported monday that Disney and McDonalds would not be renewing a 10 year exclusive deal that cross promoted  disney movies & McDonald's happy meals. The word from movie industry insiders was that Disney was concerned with being linked to McDonalds food given the increasing concerns over childhood obesity. Company spokespersons denied that the obesity angle had anything to do with the end of the deal, but often these denials only serve to reinforce the original story. The damage is done. The obvious implication is that an all-american brand like the happy meal is becoming tarnished by health concerns. Whether kids movies and theme parks are paragons of physical health is another topic. (Don't get me wrong, there are some ggod disney films & disneyland/world have their own creepy fascination as long as you don't visit too often.)