How despicable! Parents accuse Minions toys of swearing

The three main Minions in the upcoming animated movie.

It's set to be one of the biggest movies of the year, but kids' favourite Minions has hit an unfortunate setback in its marketing this week.

The Despicable Me spin-off, based on the popular supporting characters, is expected to gross over US$1 billion. To help cash-in on this success, dozens of retailers and businesses have signed on for promotional tie-ins.

A McDonald's range of talking toys, however, has raised a few eyebrows.

American father Paul Butts posted this video, showing a cave-man Minions toy that allegedly drops the F-bomb.

"My daughter got a Happy Meal from McDonald's, with a toy of course. We didn't think anything of it until my wife this morning moved it out of the car seat and heard something that didn't sound quite right," Butts said before demonstrating the rude toy.

"Seriously, of a McDonald's toy?"

Other people have since posted videos to YouTube, highlighting the apparently potty-mouthed toys.

In response, director Peter Coffin has said the toys are not swearing, and as they are speaking "Minionese," they could really be saying anything.

"If it was my intent to say inappropriate stuff, you'd hear it, I promise you," he told Mic.com "But I'd be pretty stupid doing it in a movie for all audiences including kids. I don't think of myself as being very intelligent, but I'm certainly not that dumb."

McDonalds told Fox28 similarly that they could be saying anything.

Universal Pictures, who are releasing the movie, recently told Deadline.com that Minions will have the biggest promotional campaign in the studios history. They have not yet commented on the allegations.

- nzherald.co.nz