McDonald's attempted to make bubble-gum flavoured broccoli for kids

'It wasn't all that,' admits CEO

(GETTY IMAGES)

McDonald's have attempted to make kids eat more vegetables – by experimenting with bubble-gum flavoured broccoli.

Astoundingly, the venture was not a success and the product was pulled before it even reached the shelves.

The fast-food chain’s CEO Don Thompson agreed that his company’s latest attempt to get children eating healthier did not pan out.

“It wasn’t all that,” Mr Thompson told Business Insider of the taste of the broccoli, which apparently confused kids.

The new product comes amid continuing criticism of the food giant’s advertising. Healthy food advocates claim that McDonald's fails to encourage children to eat healthily and instead leave children with a preference for calorific content, according to research from Dr Emma Boyland at Liverpool University.

Mr Thompson also claimed that McDonald’s still sells the most salads of any American restaurant in the US. There were 14, 157 McDonald’s stores in the United States as of 2012, according to data collected by the Guardian.

A criticism of the corporation mounts, it has seen profit drop 30 per cent over the third financial quarter of this year.

The fall was blamed on US customers switching to other fast-food outlets, while profits in Germany, Russia and especially China were damaged by a scandal over meat supplies.

It is not good news for McDonald’s, which marks its 40th anniversary in the UK this year.