Dear CUNY School of Public Health Students and Alumni: We're writing to ask you to take five minutes to walk into a fast food outlet near your home, work or school in the next week. No, we're not encouraging you to eat there but to help us conduct a crowd sourced survey of toy give aways in fast food outlets in New York City. Previous research<http://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/her_marketing_toys_AUGUST_14.pdf> has shown that toy giveaways encourage children to go to fast food outlets and nag their parents to buy the usually high calorie low nutrient products that are required to get the toys. Thus toy giveaways contribute to child obesity. Last month, New York City Councilman Ben Kallos introduced legislation<http://benkallos.com/press-release/%E2%80%9Chealthy-happy-meals%E2%80%9D-bill-be-introduced-nyc> prohibiting toy giveaways with fast food meals that don't meet nutritional standards for calories, sugar, fat and salt. The NYC Food Policy Center wants to document the prevalence of this practice in city fast food chains in order to provide the City Council and other policy makers with relevant evidence. We are asking you to help us learn more about toy giveaways at fast food restaurants in NYC. We hope you can help survey 150 fast food outlets around NYC by next Friday, September 12th. Here's what we're asking you to do: Pick one (or more if you have time) fast food outlets close to your home,school or work. Fast food outlets are defined as food outlets with no wait staff and chains of more than 15 stores. If they post calories and sell fast food, they are likely to meet this definition. We're interested in both outlets that do and don't give toys so even if there are no giveaways, please complete the survey and send it to us. You can simply return use your cell phone to return this message with your answers to Ashley Rafalow at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> 1. Name of the restaurant: (what chain) 2. Street address, including zip code: 3. Any signs or displays offering or promoting toy giveaway with fast food purchase? Yes No If yes, describe the sign or display below or simply snap a photo and send it to Ashley 4. Ask the staff behind the counter: "Can you tell me if you offer any free toys for children who buy meals here?" Yes No If yes: What do you offer? 5. Ask the staff, What do I have to buy to get the toy? Do you have any other observations from your visit? Completing this survey gives you a quick, practical way to give the policy makers who represent us accurate information on food policies and choices in New York City. We hope you'll help us contribute to smart, fair food policy in New York City. If you want to receive a copy of our report at the end of this survey, send Ashley your email address. Thanks for your help. Nicholas Freudenberg,DrPH Distinguished Professor of Public Health Faculty Co-Director, New York City Food Policy Center at Hunter College City University of New York School of Public Health and Hunter College