Boomerang Mario In Tabloid Scandal

We've been enjoying collecting the new range of Super Mario toys in McDonald's Happy Meals in the UK since the promotion started up again on the 12th August. We even tasked Nintendo Life's YouTube botherer Alex with doing an unboxing last week for you lovely people.

Thankfully Alex's innocent mind didn't lead him to the conclusion which 25-year-old Tyler Atfield, motorbike mechanic and father-of-five from Plymouth, Devon came to upon presenting his three-year-old girl with a Happy Meal for her lunch. The good name of Mario has now been dragged into a UK tabloid scandal by the Daily Mirror.

As we're a family friendly site we'll spare you all the details, but here is the nub of Tyler's complaint:

I was very concerned because it looked completely inappropriate, I was not happy. They should not be giving out toys that look like that. My kids started doing the action and it was so wrong. I confiscated the toy and my daughter was upset, but without the boomerang, it doesn't look right.

McDonald's PR department were quick to do damage control:

Super Mario toys are a much loved part of our Happy Meal promotional range.

This particular toy has been available across the world since 2014 without any complaints so we are surprised that Boomerang Mario has been misconstrued in this way.

We hope the vast majority of our customers continue to enjoy the Team Mario range in the way the fun children's toys were intended.

It turns out that the complaint was a hoax which the UK tabloid jumped on without any basic fact-checking. Speaking to a local Plymouth newspaper the real Tyler Atfield was quick to say that he didn't actually take the toy off his three-year-old daughter as she played with the Mario figurine which came her Happy Meal at all.

Poor Tyler, perhaps you should invest in some better friends like our very own affable Alex.

[source mirror.co.uk]