Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald are going their separate ways. After a ten year joint marketing agreement, Walt Disney Company said it will not renew its arrangement with McDonald's to provide promotional figurines for the restaurant chain's Happy Meals.
The last Disney Happy Meal promotion will be this summer, with the release of "Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
Disney isn't giving a specific reason for the breakup, but the Los Angeles Times quotes a number of high-ranking company sources as saying Disney would like to put some distance between itself and McDonald's menu offerings, increasingly being blamed for obesity.
The Times also quotes a source at rival studio DreamWorks as saying studio executives are having second thoughts about a deal with McDonald's to promote "Shrek 3," set for release next year. Shrek is, after all, a little on the hefty side.
McDonald's, feeling the heat from nutrition advocates, recently launched a campaign to educate its customers about healthy food choices.
Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation," told the Times that McDonald's has it within its power to reduce the flak it's receiving. "The obesity issue would be irrelevant if the food in the Happy Meals was healthy," he said.
