AFL and Victorian sports clubs back McDonald’s

The AFL has joined local sports clubs in backing McDonald’s after parents slammed the junk food chain for rewarding children with vouchers.

McDonald’s was sanctioned for giving out $5 ‘man of the match’ certificates to junior Victorian clubs after a parent complained burgers were being forced onto kids.

‘I thought that McDonald’s and other fast food outlets had agreed not to advertise to children at sport and this is unacceptable,’ the parent said. 

McDonald’s breached standards by offering a voucher that ‘was not for a product that meets the nutritional criteria,’ the Ad Standards Community Panel found.

But the home of the Big Mac has vowed to keep rewarding Australian juniors, claiming the complaint related to an ‘isolated incident’.

On Thursday night the AFL said the ruling would not change the league’s partnership deal with McDonald’s, the Herald Sun reported. 

In 2015 the AFL announced McDonald’s Australia as the League’s official restaurant partner.   

Victoria University sports business Professor Hans Westerbeek said McDonald’s was sending the wrong message to children.

‘If you play harder you get junk food,’ he said.

‘The correlation is all wrong.’

In response to the ‘man of the match’ voucher complaint McDonald’s spokesman Chris Grant said:’McDonald’s were incredibly disappointed to learn of this particular complaint. We have more than 970 restaurants and work hard with all of them to ensure compliance with the relevant codes. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the voucher issued by this specific restaurant was not passed through our standard approval processes.’

McDonald’s was sanctioned for giving out $5 ‘man of the match’ certificates to junior Victorian clubs (stock image- children pictured do not relate to the story)