McDonald’s is recalling millions of fitness bands that had been given away in Happy Meals because they might cause skin irritation or burns to children.
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While McDonalds did mean well, unfortunately, the “Step It!” fitness tracker had negative consequences for the dozens of children who were injured while wearing the wristband.
McDonald’s has been trying to change its reputation in recent years, for example introducing fruit to its Happy Meals and bringing in healthier meals options.
“Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers which is why upon learning about concerns with these bands we acted swiftly to stop distribution of these products”, said McDonald’s spokeswoman Terri Hickey said.
Saultonline spoke with McDonalds Manager, Jessica Mousseau, Great Northern Road location.
The fast food chain already had stopped distributing the Step-It Activity Bands, which were available to customers in the United States and Canada from August 9 to August 17.
The Activity Counter and Light-up Band toys came in six colors and either measured the steps taken by their wearer or blinked according to the speed of their walk.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) followed McDonald’s recall of the device with its own official warning to consumers, and revealed a few facts that we didn’t have before.
Last week, McDonald’s bosses confirmed they would stop distributing the bands, which come in blue, green, purple, orange and red, and are created to look like watches.
Both styles of activity wristbands have a square face with the words “STEP-iT” printed on them and a button to depress and activate the wristband.
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Approximately 3.6 million of the recalled wristbands, made in China, were distributed exclusively at McDonald’s restaurants across Canada and approximately 29 million were distributed in the United States. “While we do not yet know what may be causing these incidents, we believe it is appropriate to recall these wristbands from consumers in an abundance of caution”.
