Poll: Santa Clara County residents against toy ban
CRA strongly opposes Supervisor Ken Yeager's proposal to ban toys at restaurants
(April 26, 2010) San Jose – A poll of Santa Clara County residents shows little support for a proposal to ban toys in restaurants. Eighty percent said it's not an important issue for local government and lawmakers to be involved in. And 87 percent of county residents believe ordinary citizens are better informed than local government and lawmakers about what foods sold in restaurants are healthy and nutritious. The California Restaurant Association (CRA) urges the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to listen to their constituents and reject this misguided proposal at Tuesday morning's hearing.
“Ultimately, parents decide what their children eat and whether a meal includes a toy or not – that is the role of a parent,” the CRA’s President + CEO Jot Condie said. “Based on our survey of the county’s residents, parents prefer to continue making those decisions, as opposed to following Supervisor Yeager’s proposal that would take that choice away. Saving us from our kids is overreaching. Most parents can resist their children’s pressure to get a toy. The county government does not need to serve as the parent of the parents.”
Most restaurants offer healthy options, such as fruit, sandwiches, milk, juice and water with kids’ meals. The variety of offerings continues to grow, but ultimately consumers want a choice in what items they can select for a kids’ meal when dining at a restaurant. Seventy-three percent of Santa Clara County residents agree that they should have the option of purchasing a meal at a restaurant that includes a toy or a gift.
“The restaurant industry works with policymakers every day to craft serious, comprehensive solutions to public health issues, including childhood obesity,” Condie said.
The CRA has placed a series of newspaper ads in the San Jose Mercury News and the San Mateo County Times to educate the community about the issue and inform them of the poll results.
The CRA invites the community to reiterate their opinion with elected officials at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday where the toy ban proposal is scheduled to be heard at the Board of Supervisors meeting, County Government Center, 70 W. Hedding St., San Jose.
All respondents for the CRA-commissioned poll were contacted and interviewed between April 17 and April 19. The sampling error is no more than 4.1 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.