Free with Every Kids' Meal

<p> When we hear the term fast food toys many of us picture specific favorites. Whether they be the McDonald's Changeables Burger King's expansive <I>Lord of the Rings</I> figurines or the <I>Star Wars: Episode I</I> premiums that gripped Taco Bell KFC and Pizza Hut simultaneously chances are high that you have a nostalgic go-to. But why? Perhaps the element of surprise an unexpected toy accompanying your lunch delighted you as a child. Maybe you loved the promotion's source material and wanted to collect everything within its domain. Or it could be that this tiny random plaything intersected with your life at just the inexplicably right moment. Whatever the case may be toys tucked into kids' meals are designed to be disposable but many of our experiences prove them to be anything but.</p><p> While there are many books devoted to cataloguing various fast food promotional products this is the first to undertake a deep analysis of their cultural impact. By digging deep into kids' meals past and present this work uncovers the history of their toys. This work guides examines the ways in which these simple prizes interact with societal factors like race gender class and economics by connecting their analyses with the work of top theorists. In so doing we learn why these allegedly forgettable toys embed in memory--not because of the toy at the bottom of a brightly colored food container but because there in the in-between space of toy-and-meal permanent-and-temporary meaningless-and-meaningful we find ourselves.</p>