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McDonald`s fried over banned ad: The Times of India
London, Nov 27: After a lean year of bad European sales figures and worse worldwide publicity, McDonald`s controversial beef fat and French fries saga has reclaimed public attention with a banned advert said to `mislead` consumers about the way it turns potatoes into slender finger chips with a high salt, sugar, animal fat and calorie count.
London, Nov 27: After a lean year of bad European sales figures and worse worldwide publicity, McDonald's controversial beef fat and French fries saga has reclaimed public attention with a banned advert said to "mislead" consumers about the way it turns potatoes into slender finger chips with a high salt, sugar, animal fat and calorie count.
The all-new ad put out by McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food chain, is part of a portfolio of hip promotional material backed by pop star Justin Timberlake's new single "I'm loving it".
But many, it seems are not "loving it" and certainly not as much as McDonald's would want.
The banned ad, censored by Britain's strictly self-regulated but severe advertising authorities, features a photograph of a potato in a red box of fries.
It is headlined, "The story of our fries (end of story)". Somewhat contentiously, it now turns out, the ad claims the company makes fries almost like mum at home. It selects potatoes, peels them, slices and fries. "And that's it". But early on Wednesday, McDonald's apparently basic bucolic claims were ruled out of order by advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA's Donna Mitchell told, it was merely upholding complaints from members of the British public and the UK's Food Commission from earlier this year.
The complaints crucially allege that McDonald's has missed out less savoury parts of the great French fries narrative, including the addition of salt, a dextrose solution, part-frying in beef tallow and flying thousands of miles around the world before the chips reach their consumer.
But an embattled McDonald's insisted that it had not misled its customers about the truth – and content - of its fare. The company insisted that beef fat had not been used in British fries for a whole decade.
The British rap-on-the-knuckles comes at a time McDonald's can least afford a rash of bad headlines.
Earlier this year, it reported a significant fall in profits and subsequently went on the offensive over a new, demeaning dictionary description of its job prospects as 'McJob', that is, "low-paying and dead-end work".
The British rebuke comes less than eight weeks after McDonald's significantly won an American lawsuit in which two youngsters blamed their obesity, diabetes and health problems on McDonald's advertising.
Now, experts said that crucial US legal victory for McDonald's must be measured against rising consumer antipathy around the world.
McDonald's said that its advert truthfully claimed its "fries are made from real, quality potatoes".
But many, it seems are not "loving it" and certainly not as much as McDonald's would want.
The banned ad, censored by Britain's strictly self-regulated but severe advertising authorities, features a photograph of a potato in a red box of fries.
It is headlined, "The story of our fries (end of story)". Somewhat contentiously, it now turns out, the ad claims the company makes fries almost like mum at home. It selects potatoes, peels them, slices and fries. "And that's it". But early on Wednesday, McDonald's apparently basic bucolic claims were ruled out of order by advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA's Donna Mitchell told, it was merely upholding complaints from members of the British public and the UK's Food Commission from earlier this year.
The complaints crucially allege that McDonald's has missed out less savoury parts of the great French fries narrative, including the addition of salt, a dextrose solution, part-frying in beef tallow and flying thousands of miles around the world before the chips reach their consumer.
But an embattled McDonald's insisted that it had not misled its customers about the truth – and content - of its fare. The company insisted that beef fat had not been used in British fries for a whole decade.
The British rap-on-the-knuckles comes at a time McDonald's can least afford a rash of bad headlines.
Earlier this year, it reported a significant fall in profits and subsequently went on the offensive over a new, demeaning dictionary description of its job prospects as 'McJob', that is, "low-paying and dead-end work".
The British rebuke comes less than eight weeks after McDonald's significantly won an American lawsuit in which two youngsters blamed their obesity, diabetes and health problems on McDonald's advertising.
Now, experts said that crucial US legal victory for McDonald's must be measured against rising consumer antipathy around the world.
McDonald's said that its advert truthfully claimed its "fries are made from real, quality potatoes".