First, McDonald's had to recall Shrek-themed glasses because of toxic metals. Now, parents are complaining about some of the Happy Meal toys.
Customers are calling them the 3 dirty little pigs and it is not exactly the G-rated toys they thought they'd receive in the Happy Meal.
Since May 14th, McDonald's has been running a promotion for the movie, 'Shrek Forever After.' The restaurant is giving away 8 character themed toys from the movie. They include the 3 little pigs, which are supposed to say rather innocuous things when you press the middle pig's belly.
Shannon Leonardi recently took her children to a McDonald's in Holland, Pennsylvania for some Happy Meals.
Shannon's 3-year-old daughter and other children were playing with the toy last week when she could not believe what she was hearing.
"And all I heard were these nasty words that they were saying. And I took them and started playing with them myself and realized that they were pornographic," Shannon said.
To some, the pigs sound like they're saying the other word to describe a cat, and 'You're hot' and they also appear to be moaning and groaning.
"I have my 3-year-old running around telling people, 'You're hot and (bleeped).' I mean it's not something that I feel should be part of a kid's meal," Leonardi said.
Action News found others on the internet who feel the same way, as well as some people we spoke with.
"It's certainly not a toy for a child," Cheryl Taylor of Wynnfield Heights said.
Back on May 30th, Leonardi called the McDonald's corporate office to complain, but so far she says, "No response, nothing, nothing whatsoever, not an apology, not a phone call."
After a number of calls seeking comment, a McDonald's spokesman sent Action News an e-mail, which in part reads: "the phrases by the 3 little pigs are taken directly from Dreamworks' 'Shrek Forever After' or other Shrek movies. The toy says in a German accent: Yaaaa!, Hyaaaa! Ohhhh!, Uhhh!, Uhhuh!, He hoofed, and He poofed!"
But the e-mail does not address why some people are hearing something entirely different.
"I'm hoping that they see what they did and that they have to pay more attention to the toys they're putting out and what they're subjecting our children to," Leonardi said.
McDonald's says they greatly value the high standards that families expect from them and that they take seriously their responsibility of offering fun, safe toys to families.
But some families tonight beg to differ and it's unlikely this controversy is going away quietly.
