Minions Can’t Really Swear, Can They? The Reason Parents Want McDonald’s To Stop Producing Happy Meal Toys

Minions were better off when they did not speak.

The world’s largest hamburger chain, McDonald’s, finds itself embroiled in another controversy after parents complained that their newest Happy Meal toys, Minions, speak the F-word.

On July 3, 2015, McDonald’s rolled out their latest batch of Happy Meal toys to cash in on the popularity of the creatures, first developed as part of the film, Despicable Me. But reports soon surfaced that these talking minions were spewing out profanities inappropriate for kids.

Some parents even uploaded videos on YouTube of the speaking minions, which when hit against a surface, spoke seemingly utter gibberish that could be interpreted as cuss words.

McDonald’s has since gone on to deny the reports, saying the minions — produced by Oak Brook, an Illinois-based company — are designed to make only three sounds — “ha ha ha,” “para la bukay,” and “eh eh.” A McDonald’s spokesperson spoke to CNBC about the allegations.

“The allegation that this toy is saying any offensive phrase is not true. We apologize for any confusion or offense to those who may have interpreted the sounds for anything other than gibberish.”

Meanwhile, the allegedly swearing Minions have created a stir among parents, who fear their kids may begin to mimic the words uttered by the Minions. Taylor King, father of a 3-year-old son, spoke to Fox 28 about it.

“I heard what it said and I’m like, ‘whoa hang on here’. It clearly says what it says. My kids are old enough now where they’re going to mock anything they hear from a toy. It’s coming from a toy. They’re going to assume it’s okay to say that.”

Meanwhile, others parents believe that hearing Minions speak cuss words could be a misunderstanding.

“Unless I was looking for it, I probably would not think much about it. Now that I’m looking for it, it does sound like ‘WTF’.”

Experts agree with this assessment, saying our brains are wired in a way that can sometimes perceive language when it really does not exist.

It remains to be seen if McDonald’s does act on the complaints, but so far, it has refused to take the Minions out of distribution.

People have taken to social media to express their opinion on the matter. While some believe that parents are over-reacting, others think Minions speaking cuss words could be the latest marketing ploy by the ingenious McDonald’s, made to coincide with the release of Universal Pictures’ animated feature Minions.

I have a "swearing" Minion toy. My incredulity that anyone would think it's swearing is matched only by my disappointment that it isn't.

— Josh Addison (@monkeyfluids) July 10, 2015

Actually tempted to take the kids to MDs to try to get the swearing minion. Their best marketing move in years.

— Jenny Foxe (@urbanfoxe) July 10, 2015

Whether this is a clever marketing trick or a complete misunderstanding, these McDonald’s Minions toys are hot property.

[Photo: Anthony Harvey / Getty Images]