Wellington, New Zealand - (Ass Mess): In an innovative marketing twist today the Wellington branch of fast food retailer McDonalds added an unexpected little treasure to the Happy Meal bag of seven year old Maria Whitaker's take-out meal: a condom.
The little girl's grandma was shocked and dismayed when she opened the Happy Meal gift pack along with the usual tacky plastic inducements like a My Little Pony sticker, a packet of crayons and a tube of KY Jelly.
Luckily Maria's grandpa Rowan Hutch quickly recognised the green rubber which was from a famous brand's Whopper range marketed to men with wannabe big ones.
A spokeswoman for the McDonalds branch said they had now idea how the condom got inside the Happy Meal goody bag and denied that it really was part of a promotional range targeted at curbing rising teenage pregnancy numbers.
Joanna Redfern-Hardisty said because of its popularity the previous Happy Meal gift had sold out at the outlet and "a prepackaged range of sports bags were substituted as children's gifts".
Rival fast food retailer Burger King whose Whopper sandwich has been a best-seller for the last decade is said to be investiating potential copyright breaches that might ensue following the condom incident.
