Burger King under fire over Indiana Jones tie-up

Burger King has been slammed by children’s food campaigners for a tie-up with the new Indiana Jones film despite pledges by the fast food chain to scrap all advertising to kids across TV, print and the internet.

The Children’s Food Campaign says it has written to Burger King head of marketing, David Kisilevksy, criticising the chain for giving away Indiana Jones toys with every purchase from its kids menu as well as using posters and packaging to support the film in stores.

The promotion comes after Burger King signed up to an EU pledge committing to “change…food and beverage advertising to children in support of parental efforts to promote healthy lifestyles”.

Richard Watts, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, says: “This is a shameless attempt to cash in on the Indiana Jones film to sell burgers to children. It’s completely inconsistent with their claims to support children’s health.”

He adds that the promotion shows “just how little we can believe the food industry’s claims that it can be trusted to self-regulate”.

Burger King defended the deal saying that it signed global film partnerships “at least a year in advance of the cinema release”. It adds that promotional activity is in line with regional marketing strategies and that in the UK the toys will only be promoted in-store and not on TV.

In November 2006, the fast food chain announced that it would stop making adverts aimed at children and would not longer advertise during kids TV programmes (MW†November 16, 2006). It was further supported by its decision to sign up to the pledge last year.