McDonalds has removed the smiles from their Happy Meal boxes for Mental Health Awareness Week

Being a kid comes with some big feelings that are hard to explain… to help out, McDonalds have wiped the smiles off of their Happy Meal boxes.

McDonalds, in collaboration with creative agency Ready10, have partnered with BBC’s Children in Need on the campaign. Through the campaign, McDonalds wants to raise awareness amongst families of the importance of speaking to young people about their feelings and mental health more openly and candidly.

To shed some light on this issue, McDonalds have replaced their iconic yellow smile on the side off of their Happy Meal’s with a line saying “It’s okay not to be happy all the time” – giving children the chance to swap out the smile with stickers depicting different emotions.

As well as removing the smiles from their boxes, McDonalds have created a film, called ‘The Meal’. Voiced by football legend Rio Ferdinand, ‘The Meal’ follows a group of children discussing their emotions, their importance and what their feelings mean to them.

Rio Ferdinand says “Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy, in that we put too much pressure on ourselves to have the perfect scenario and situation in life, which is just impossible… .There’s always going to be a bump or a curveball thrown at you, so you’ve just got to be aware that it’s coming, because it’s inevitable. And don’t expect perfection.”

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