Mouthing Off: The Dirty Little Secret of McDonald’s Playgrounds
Do you take your kids to the PlayPlaces at McDonald’s? Let them run around barefoot and slide on the plastic slides after inhaling a $2.99 Happy Meal? Well, according to Dr. Erin Carr-Jordan, a child development specialist and mother of four, you probably shouldn’t anymore because you’re exposing your little tots to some very dangerous germs.
Yeah, that’s right—germs. In a public play place. Whodathunkit!? Those used diapers and bloody Band-Aids in the MegaTube aren’t just there to provide some Ronald McDonald ambiance, my friends. They’re the Big Mac of Nasty. Here’s just one example Carr-Jordan found—is that a McFlurry or tartar sauce?:
Image via KidsPlaySafe
Dr. Carr-Jordan, who you’ve probably seen making the media rounds, is crusading against these dirty playgrounds after the swabs she took at local McDonald’s restaurants were lab tested and showed the presence of not just everyday germs, but infectious staph bacteria and MRSA, among other pathogens. Her website, Kids Play Safe, also shows about two dozen videos taken at fast food restaurants around the country and what she found is some pretty revolting stuff. It’s like Gymboree meets a Wal-Mart dumpster over a SuperSized order of french fries. Ewwwww.
So what do you suppose the McDonald’s restaurants in Carr-Jordan’s home town of Phoenix did once this was called to their attention? Issue a statement saying that for the safety of the local kids, they’d make cleanliness a priority? Invite her to sit down for a civil chat? No way, Jose. They instead served her with a legal notice that prohibits her from even entering any of their franchises because they find her actions to be “disruptive.” A little chickenshit, if you ask us.
Which brings us to the question of the day: Is McDonald’s, a privately owned company, at all obligated to keep their youngest of customers safe via the cleanliness of their facilities? Or is this simply a “buyer beware” issue where parents who don’t like their children playing in filth should just stay away? Hmmmmm. Too bad Upton Sinclair isn’t around to answer this. (Yes, we just dropped in a reference to “The Jungle” because we want to show that we’re more than stunningly pretty faces. Please look suitably impressed.)
After some careful thought, our opinion is that these restaurants need to just get over themselves and do the right thing. After all, the only reason they build these playgrounds is to bring kids in, so it’s in their best interest to keep the parents happy, right? Plus a kid in the hospital with MRSA probably can’t suck down as many hamburgers and milkshakes.
That’s why we truly hope these restaurant owners behave ethically and pay heed to Dr. Carr-Jordan’s findings, or to any other parent’s complaints about uncleanliness and broken equipment. Their little patrons love going to play at their colorful, fun playgrounds, so it’s really not asking too much of the management to make sure the facilities are kept safe, hygienic and clean.
Because it’s called McIntegrity. And you sure as hell can’t get it at the drive-thru.
17 Responses to “Mouthing Off: The Dirty Little Secret of McDonald’s Playgrounds”
Comment by Andi.
Can you list the locations that were tested so that we can contact them and McDonalds corporate about this issue?
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Comment by Wendi.
Andi, if you go to Dr. Carr-Jordan’s website linked above, she has the locations listed by state.
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Comment by Plano Mom.
I’m very happy someone is getting a lot of attention to something that’s been a problem for a very long time. Most of the McDonald’s I used to frequent were fairly clean, but I still felt my kids needed a bath after going there.
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Comment by Plano Mom.
Oh, and I’m quite sure that McDonalds, ANY McDonalds, has enough cash flow to hire someone minimum wage to keep the playplace clean.
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Comment by Becky.
I’m not Mcfucking surprised that said “food” establishment lawyered up instead of cleaning up.
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Comment by Samantha Semos.
I am all about keeping MRSA at bay, but what were her controls? Did she swab other places kids frequent? How are the kids supposed to build immunities or lessen anxiety when parents are helicopters. I recommend not eating at McDonalds. The food they eat there has got to be worse than the bacteria that will in the end perhaps bolster their immunities.
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Comment by Hope.
Vindicated in my constant shrieks to my then-small children not to touch anything, and my constant use of baby-wipes and then Purell!
In public restrooms, I am always secretly happy every time I hear another mom take her little tyke into a cubicle and say, “Do NOT TOUCH ANYTHING.” Restrooms are a necessary evil. McDonald’s play areas? Just evil.
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Comment by Tonya.
That image speaks volumes too. I don’t think I’ll be eating lunch today. Yuck.
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Comment by Amy.
I don’t understand why they can’t make the whole thing out of bacteria-resistant plastic. But then again, it would probably cause cancer.
City parks are clean because the sun shines down on the surfaces and kills the bacteria. The rain washes messes away. McPlayplaces are just nasty. But where else can you take the kids to play in the winter? We need INDOOR PARKS!
McDonaldses, in general, are nasty. Ever take a good hard look at the floors? Especially in the corners? The area where they “cook” is 1000 times dirtier than the public areas, trust me.
I did 3 years in fast food in high school and college, and I never once cleaned a high chair, either.
We’ve been sick for over a month with various colds and flus, I’m just never going to leave my house again.
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Comment by N and Em's mom.
I’m waiting for someone to suggest we sanitize dirt. Some playlands will be clean; others will cause the McNuggets to rise to the back of your throat. If it’s clean, talk to the manager and tell him/her that you noticed how clean it is and you appreciate it and will continue to frequent their establishment. They all make enough money that they really don’t care if you come or not, but they do care about the local health authority. With budget cuts everywhere, they will fine the crap out of them it conditions are really unsanitary.
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Comment by Meredith L..
Another notch in the “pro” column for living in New York City: no McDonald’s playgrounds. Just good old-fashioned regular playgrounds, with their metallic slides that face the sun, scalding black tar grounds, no shade, and lead-paint covered metallic surfaces that have been known to send toddlers to the hospital with third degree burns.
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Comment by Sarah.
This never even occurred to me until one day when I brought my kids and my very excited son ran down to tell me excitedly, “A KID PUKED DOWN THE SLIDE!!!!” In a split second I saw the entire play place with new eyes. What was really in that ball pit? What other bodily fluids have been smeared over the molded plastic? How is that McDonald’s worker ever going to fit into that tube to clean out the puke? Oh, she’s not? Oh. Let’s go, kids!
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Comment by Mom on the Verge.
I have personally witnessed a small child peeing its pants in one of the high-up globes. Now, how would a child like this get down? Sliding on its butt, down the tubes, across the platforms, and down the slides. On its butt!! No wonder they always smell like pee.
But who among us hasn’t surrendered to the PlayPlace on the 18th consecutive rainy day? Desperation makes us unrealistically optimistic sometimes…
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Comment by suburbancorrespondent.
I can’t imagine that any mother who has frequented one of these places is a bit surprised to hear that they are germy cesspools. But I always assumed that having my kids play there would serve to strengthen their immune systems by exposing them to all this bacteria, etc., at a young age. Really, the food is probably more dangerous.
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Comment by The Mouthy Housewives: Now Internationally Recognized! | The Mouthy Housewives.
[...] more recently, we wrote a Mouthing Off about the horror that is the McDonald’s playgrounds and found ourselves quoted in OK! MAGAZINE. (If you don’t know of OK!, it’s basically [...]
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Kathy Reply:
November 4th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
I thought about the same thing. Goodness only knows what you’d find if you swabbed my house! With two kids, a dog and 3 cats I’m sure we’re a bacterial minefield. I think there was a study years ago that tested handrails and doorknobs… This is what our immune system was made for – sheesh!
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