• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 15, 2010

Consumer group The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has made good on its June warning that it would sue McDonald's if the QSR did not stop offering toy premiums with its children's Happy Meals.

The class-action suit, filed today in California Superior Court in San Francisco on behalf of a mother of two residing in Sacramento, is bound to raise the already high level of public debate about food marketing to children in the context of children's obesity issues. 

The suit charges that McDonald's is violating California's consumer protection laws because its giveaways of toys tied into popular children's movies and characters constitute unfair and deceptive marketing.

McDonald's had not issued a formal response to the lawsuit as of this posting, but CEO Jim Skinner, in a letter responding to CSPI's June letter warning of its intention to sue, stated that McDonald's "will vigorously defend our brand, our reputation, our food and our people." Skinner's letter said that CSPI "is wrong in its assertions and frivolous in its legal threats," and fumed that CSPI's "twisted characterization of McDonald's as 'the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children' is an insult to every one of our franchisees and employees around the world."