I’m not a fan of McDonald’s and I’m also not the target market for its new toy wearable. However, I caved and spent the $5 and purchased a Happy Meal specifically for the Step-it activity tracker.
Unfortunately, the wearable is not worth it, both in terms of time and health.
I must preface this that I have two small children, a boy who’s six and a 2-year old girl, who are right in McDonald’s demographics for the coveted Happy Meal.
“Physical activity is important to everyone of all ages. We very much support children’s well-being… Step-it is in line with McDonald’s general philosophy for Happy Meal toys, which is to make toys that encourage either physical or imagination-based play,” said McDonald’s Canada senior marketing manager Michelle McIlmoyle in a statement we published in an earlier article about the wearable.
I love the idea of Step-it and getting kids moving. It’s a smart marketing idea and gets kids excited, which is progressive for the fast food chain. However, in this case, you really do get what you pay for.
Step-it comes in six colour options: pink, yellow, blue, orange, green and red. I ended up with the orange version. The wearable is made from plastic and is square in design and the band has three loop holes for different wrist sizing. On the front of the Step-it is a digital display with a square power button. On both sides of the power button is a person kicking a ball and playing a racquet sport.
The device’s power button doesn’t turn on or off the device as it actually has an ‘Always-on’ display. This button resets the Step-it counter, which does a horrible job at counting steps. It’s terribly inaccurate, but again, it’s a toy and you get what you pay for.
In addition, I tried to take apart the wearable to see what battery it takes, but couldn’t pry it open. So, at this point, we cannot give a comprehensive battery life test but it does utilize a standard watch battery. As a parent, this is not the activity tracker I would want to introduce to my child. First impressions are important at any age and if a bad experience happens, getting kids to hop back on the activity band trend will be tough.
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