A VIDEO of a Hereford dad criticising fast food chain McDonalds for giving out the "wrong message" to families has been viewed more than one million times.
Lee Miles used his phone to film a McDonalds Happy Meal television advert which he narrated over to share his views.
The advert shows a young boy being stopped from doing several activities, including jumping in a puddle and touching glass in a museum, before he enjoys a Happy Meal with his parents at a McDonalds restaurant.
Mr Miles said: "Now I don't condone running in a pool or jumping on a bed in a furniture store but the parts where he was being told no to building a ramp for his bike – it never killed me or any of my friends – or the bit where he wanted to jump in a puddle but got told off – shoes can be washed – and also the part where he was scorned for touching the glass in a museum made me quite upset.
"But what really got me annoyed is when he was allowed to go and sit in a fast food restaurant and eat a burger because, apparently, that's where good times occur.
"If the advert portrayed the child running around, jumping in puddles, riding his bike and then going to the burger joint to refuel, maybe not so bad.
"But the fact that it seemed to say 'stop doing fun stuff, sit down and eat fast food because this is 'good times' really annoyed me, especially in a time where childhood obesity is in the forefront of peoples minds.
"This really gives out the wrong message."
Minutes after Mr Miles posted his video on Facebook, he noticed the views rising and it had been seen more than 500 times on that first evening.
Now, it has been seen more than 1,060,600 times and has been shared by almost 11,000 people.
A spokesman for McDonalds said: "Our recent Happy Meal advert portrays young Harry as an adventurous kid who’s always finding opportunities to test his parents’ patience.
"His parents and others in the advert are attempting to keep his mischievous antics in check and we’re disappointed that this has been misinterpreted as an attempt to deter him from having fun.
"The conclusion shows the whole family having a good time at McDonald’s and is a light-hearted look at what we see in our restaurants on a day to day basis."
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