McDonald's exclusive Happy Meal toy deal with Disney is coming to an end. Picture / Reuters

McDonald's exclusive Happy Meal toy deal with Disney is coming to an end. Picture / Reuters

An exclusive deal that helps sell burgers and chips to children by adding Walt Disney figures such as Nemo and 101 Dalmatians is ending - partly because of worries about the fast-food link to obesity.

McDonald's food outlets globally have for a decade put plastic toys based on Disney characters in Happy Meals - to the outrage of anti-obesity campaigners, who say it successfully encourages children to eat more unhealthy food.

The exclusivity ends this year with the Disney movies Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. After that, McDonald's will have what it calls greater flexibility, starting with a promotion of the DreamWorks movie Shrek 3 due out next year, and will "explore additional Disney opportunities in the future".

The Los Angeles Times reported this week, citing "multiple high-ranking sources within Disney", that one reason for the end of the deal was the company's wish to distance itself from fast-food and its links to childhood obesity.

McDonald's rejected this, saying in a worldwide statement that the report was a "misrepresentation of the truth".

"The decision to end the McDonald's/Disney strategic alliance was mutual ... "

The Disney entertainment company declined to discuss the break-up with the Los Angeles Times, but said in a statement it looked forward to a non-exclusive, case-by-case relationship with McDonald's.

A third of New Zealand children are overweight or obese.

New Zealand anti-obesity groups interpret the Disney move as revealing growing concerns among big companies, especially those wanting to project a family-friendly image, about being seen to promote unhealthy foods to children.

"I think companies are starting to get nervous," Obesity Action Coalition executive director Celia Murphy said yesterday.

Happy Meals - and sugar-loaded breakfast cereals sold in boxes decorated with cartoon characters - directly targeted children, she said. It fuelled their "pester power" over parents and was a factor in childhood obesity. Her group wanted the practice stopped.

Diabetes specialist Dr Robyn Toomath, of Fight the Obesity Epidemic, said: "I think companies like Disney are picking up on the public feeling about junk food".

"Junk food, in certain sectors, is becoming a dirty word. It's an association that savvy organisations don't necessarily want to have."