Did Childhood-Obesity Worries Kill Disney-McDonald's Pact?

May 8, 2006 — -- Are overweight Americans to blame for the fact that McDonald's Happy Meals might stop offering Disney action figures after this year? Maybe, maybe not.

The dissolution of a 10-year promotional partnership between the Walt Disney Co., the parent company of ABC News, and McDonald's made waves today when a newspaper report said Disney might have concerns about marketing fast food to children, which it might not believe is in keeping with its family-friendly image.

Disney and McDonald's are not renewing an agreement that saw the fast-food chain promote Disney movies exclusively for the past 10 years, often with tie-ins to the restaurant chain's Happy Meals for children. A report in today's Los Angeles Times suggested that Disney chose to end the relationship because it did not want to be linked to childhood obesity, which is often associated with fast-food menu items.

Both companies issued rebuttals to the Times story, saying the deicision to end the relationship was mutual.

"Today's Los Angeles Times story involving the McDonald's-Disney alliance is based on Hollywood hearsay from unnamed sources, and the entire premise is a misrepresentation of the truth," McDonald's said in a statement.

McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa Howard said the decision to end the partnership had nothing to do with the McDonald's menu or health concerns. She said the two companies might even work together on future promotions, and she emphasized the company intends to continue forging promotional partnerships with movie studios, including an agreement with DreamWorks studios to promote the movie "Shrek 3" in 2007.

"The only thing that's changing is that it's no longer an exclusive arrangement. Previously, if we wanted to partner with Sony, we couldn't. Now we can go to Sony, DreamWorks, Disney, et cetera," Howard said. "We're talking about a number of other studios about a variety of promotions."

In a statement, Disney left the door open for future promotions with McDonald's and noted that the partnership will include two more Disney movies this summer -- the upcoming summer releases "Cars" and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel.

"While our contract with them will expire at the end of the year, we look forward to a more flexible, non exclusive relationship where we will be working with them on a case-by-case basis," a Walt Disney spokesperson said in a statement.