The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) announced Tuesday that it served McDonald’s with a notice of intent to sue over “unfair and deceptive marketing.” The group is targeting McDonald’s for using promotional toys to entice children. This is said to instill bad eating habits that can lead to obesity, diabetes and other diet-related diseases. [Restaurant shares and ETFs have had a savory outlook.]
Claire Stephanic for The Motley fool reports that competitors such as Yum! Brands and Wendy’s are spending just as much to entice children, and may even use this lawsuit as a tool to gain a competitive advantage over Ronald and friends.
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- PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage (NYSEArca: PBJ): allocates 16% of its assets to McDonald’s, Starbucks and Yum!, together.
- PowerShares Dynamic Leisure & Entertainment (NYSEArca: PEJ): allocates 5.6% of its assets to Yum!, 5.2% to Starbucks and 4.8% to McDonalds.
- Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (NYSEArca: VCR): allocates McDonald’s as its top holding, in addition to holding Yum and Starbucks.
- Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLY): McDonald’s is its top holding and allocates a small percentage of its assets to Yum and Starbucks.
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.