McDonald's is tapping into the public's fuel-price pain, offering supermarket-style discount vouchers if you buy a burger-and-chips feed.
But an anti-obesity campaigner has condemned the deal offering a 10c-a-litre reduction for a fill of petrol or diesel at most Mobil stations as a marketing ploy to boost demand
for McDonald's fatty, salty, sugary foods.
The discount vouchers, redeemable until September 29, come with $9.50 food packs from McDonald's comprising a Big Mac, mid-sized serve of chips and fizzy drink, and an apple pie.
Some supermarkets offer a 4c-a-litre fuel discount with purchases and occasional deals of 10c off a litre if you buy $100 of groceries.
Obesity Action Coalition executive director Leigh Sturgiss said yesterday McDonald's had previously highlighted its "lighter menu" as evidence that "it somehow cares about New Zealand's soaring obesity rates".
But the petrol promotion was another encouragement to eat meals with the highest fat, sodium and sugar content and the least nutritional value.
They would load an 11-year-old girl with 70 per cent of her daily energy needs and double the recommended fat intake but were short on vitamin C, calcium, folate and fibre.
It was the kind of food contributing to obesity, but the offer also bolstered recognition of McDonald's, just like the fast-food chain's Player-of-the-Day burger vouchers for children's soccer.
"Why isn't this deal available if you buy one of McDonald's salads, deli rolls, fruit or a low-fat smoothie?"
The company's managing director, Mark Hawthorn, said Obesity Action had come up with a "good idea".
It was "something we should do with future programmes", although the company had opted to start this one with the company's "icon" burger.
He said one burger-chips-pie-drink meal weekly for the three weeks of the promotion _ assuming car owners typically needed a tank of fuel a week _ was appropriate in a balanced diet.
Likewise, he said the vouchers for young players for cheeseburgers or hamburgers were suitable in a balanced diet when it was considered they were classed by the Health Ministry as a "sometimes food".
