Macca's spits chips over ads
McDonald's has complained about a WA Heart Foundation campaign featuring images of human organs surrounded by toxic fat.
It has the slogan "You sure you want fries with that?" and advertisements were placed outside fast- food outlets across Perth.
About 250 of the bus shelter advertisements, aimed at turning people off fast food, were put near clusters of food outlets for the $9.1 million LiveLighter campaign, funded by the Health Department.
Heart Foundation chief executive Maurice Swanson said a senior McDonald's policy officer contacted him to accuse the foundation of targeting the fast food giant.
"She said they were aghast and very disappointed with the advertisements, which they saw as targeting McDonald's," Mr Swanson said.
"When I get a complaint like that from McDonald's about our advertising, I give that a big tick because now we know it's having an effect on them."
He said it was particularly rewarding given LiveLighter's annual advertising budget was $1.2 million, compared with the $20 million junk food brands spent on direct advertising every year.
The bus shelter campaign, which came to the end of its cycle this week, would be repeated because of its success.
It is believed the campaign, which also featured the "grabbable gut" TV advertisements, is the first in the world to use shock tactics to tackle the obesity epidemic.
"Some might say it's in your face, but what we know from tobacco and road safety messages is you have to capture people's attention to cut through," Mr Swanson said.
"We have 66 per cent of adults in Australia either overweight or obese and we have no effective prohibitions on the marketing of junk food."
A recent study of the campaign's success found 75 per cent of 1000 overweight and obese people surveyed saw the campaign as relevant to them.
A McDonald's spokeswoman said the company had led the industry in bringing in "healthier choices and reducing saturated fat, salt and sugar across the menu".
"Since 2006, our fries have been cooked in a vegetable oil blend that is virtually free of trans fats and we worked with the Heart Foundation at the time to ensure our oil met their standards for healthier oils," she said.
