McDonald’s second annual “Family Time Forever” campaign in Saudi Arabia has been described as a “huge success.” Hundreds of thousands of families from across the Kingdom joined the campaign on Friday, when they turned off their mobile phones, computers and TV sets for the whole day. This year’s initiative, called “A Day Offline,” was led by Prince Mishal bin Khaled Al-Saud, president of the Riyadh International Catering Corporation (RICC), which owns and operates the McDonald’s restaurants in the central, eastern and northern regions of the Kingdom.

The campaign was marked at more than 120 McDonald’s outlets across the country. “This is a continuation of our Family Time Forever campaign, and we have resolved to make this a regular initiative to highlight the importance of uninterrupted family time,” said Prince Mishal.

The campaign was joined by a large number of children, women and men at a major ceremony organized at Panorama Mall Amusement Park in Riyadh on Friday evening.

A number of prizes were distributed among winning families. The event generated substantial awareness about the need to cut down the excessive amount of time children as well as their families spend on electronic gadgets every day.

Speaking on this occasion, Yasser Al-Ahmar, a McDonald’s executive, said that family time is important for a healthy lifestyle, and it is more important because meaningful “bonds” can be formed only when we spend quality time together.

“Nowadays, people have become excessively obsessed with technological devices to the point where many no longer enjoy the simple act of spending quality time with the family — the most important source of support,” said the executive while referring to the tension and troubles in Saudi society. According to a WHO study, television, Internet and gaming can leave their addicts strapped to the screens for countless hours, creating a host of personal and social problems besides health-related ailments.

One such problem is loss of communication in families, said the study while referring to the children, who prefer to play with electronic gadgets to playing in open air playgrounds or spending time with family. In addition to the wave of consumerism and materialism created by hi-tech gadgets, the obsessive desire to possess these gadgets has boosted the incidents of thefts and crimes, said the study.

Al-Ahmar further pointed out: “This campaign was launched after last year’s similar drive, which successfully caught the attention of thousands of families around the region including the Kingdom.”

McDonald’s recently announced an ambitious plan to hire over 1,000 Saudi men to operate its new outlets to be opened across the Kingdom within a few years in a staggered schedule. McDonald’s also helps local Saudi charities and is involved in several other social programs in the country.