Simon Power
National Party Law & Order Spokesman

19 October 2006

Police cancel McDonald’s road safety programme

The Police have cancelled a multimillion-dollar road safety sponsorship programme with McDonald’s in adherence to a misguided ideology about commercial involvement, says National’s Law & Order spokesman, Simon Power.

He is releasing a memo from McDonald’s to staff that says the Police are ending their 20-year partnership, including the well known ‘Make it Click’ campaign.

McDonald’s says it is ‘extremely disappointed’, and that they have ‘invested significantly in road safety and, together with the New Zealand Police, we have been reaching children in about 900 schools nationwide each year to deliver a road safety message in a fun and interactive way.’

“I understand that over the 10 years that this campaign ran, McDonald’s pumped $8 million into the campaign, including a $40,000 donation and considerable resource support,” Mr Power says.

“Now, all that is down the drain because of some blind adherence to this Government’s ideology.

“If the Police are serious about continuing this very successful and recognisable campaign, they are going to have to find $8 million over 10 years from their own very stretched budget.

“This decision does not make sense. I just hope the schools road safety campaign does not suffer.”

ENDS

McDonald’s memo at: http://www.national.org.nz/files/power_mcdonalds/pdf

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