When 11 year-old Antonia Ayres-Brown visited a McDonald's drive-thru, she knew there was something not quite right about employees asking if she needed a "girl's toy" or a boy's toy".
 
She wrote to the CEO of the company at the time suggesting they alter their gender specified toys pointing out that it wouldn't be OK to ask at an interview, "whether someone wanted a man's job or a woman's job?"
 
The CEO however, did not agree with her and dismissed her experience saying that McDonald's did not train staff to ask customers if they wanted a girl's or boy's toy. 
 
Needless to say, Antonia was not satisfied with this response and set about finding a way to prove her experience was the norm. 
 
Antonia, now 16 years-old, carried out further research to prove she was correct as well as numerous other claims and petitions that McDonald's needed to addresss their gender specified toys. 
 
Antonia got some young girls and boys to go into McDonald's stores and order Happy Meals and she found that: "In a series of 30 visits, we sent boys and girls, ages 7-11, into 15 McDoanld's stores to independently order a Happy Meal at the counter. We found that 92.9 percent of the time, the store, without asking, simply gave each child the toy that McDonald’s had designated for that child’s gender—a Justice fashion toy for girls and a Power Rangers toy for boys."
 
To make matters even more shocking, Antonia's study found that any child who tried to exchange the toy they were given for the opposite one was refused in 42.8% of stores. 
 
Armed with this research, she once again wrote to the CEO of McDonald's, and received the answer she had been waiting for.
 
McDonald's chief diversity officer, Patricia Harris wrote to Antonia, saying: "It is McDonald’s intention and goal that each customer who desires a Happy Meal toy be provided the toy of his or her choice, without any classification of the toy as a ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ toy and without any reference to the customer’s gender. We have recently reexamined our internal guidelines, communications and practices and are making improvements to better ensure that our toys are distributed consistent with our policy.”

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