Toy Story battles w/ Burgers

files/pictures/picture-35.jpgThe war between TOY STORY and POKEMON over kids' piggy bank change has
moved to a new battle field -- the local burger joint! McDonald's Corp.,
the U.S.-based, world-wide burger chain, has released TOY STORY 2 toys in
connection with the recently released film. The McDonald's promotion,
featuring a collection of 20 different characters from the TOY STORY 2
movie, will be distributed with each Happy Meal purchase. The chain will
also offer six TOY STORY 2-themed candy dispensers for $1.99 each with the
purchase of a Happy Meal or large sandwich. This large campaign must now
compete with the wildly successful POKEMON toys featured at McDonald's
chief rival, Burger King. Demand for Burger King's POKEMON trading cards
and creatures, complete with a plastic Pokeball key-chain, has caused
shortages in Southern California and parts of Texas. The 57 different toys
available in the POKEMON collection seems to be a daunting figure to
collect for kids -- and parents who want children to eat meals that
distinctly come from the four-major food groups. However, fear not tofu
warriors, Burger King has allocated Tuesdays as POKEMON trading day.
Therefore, kids can get their weekly shake and fry fix while trading away
that sixteenth copy of Charmander that they really don't need. With the
leading fast-food chains locked in promotional combat, the result will be
hard times for other fast-food peddlers, predicted Ron Paul, president of
Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based restaurant consultancy. Although Burger
King's promotion may collect some of McDonald's success, Paul believes both
will emerge from the fourth quarter with gains in same-store sales. "When
all the attention gravitates to a couple of players, it has an impact on
the whole market. There are still just so many lunches and dinners
available. It makes other players cringe," he said.