McDonald's new ads: Would you like some facts with that?

The new packaging features a map of New Zealand and information about ingredients.

McDonald's is rolling out the next phase of its myth-busting Take a Closer Look campaign with new packaging from the middle of next month.

The Big Mac packaging, which will feature a map of New Zealand and nutritional information, aims to show the company's commitment to local ingredients.

It's a departure from the red and yellow packaging seen around the globe.

It will have labelling showing how much of the ideal daily intake of energy, protein, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugar and sodium the product contains.

Public scepticism forced McDonald's to launch a $3.5 million advertising campaign last month to tackle myths about its food.

Among the stories it aims to dispel through TV commercials, a new website and question-and-answer sessions is the rumour it puts pig fat in its shakes.

It also is spreading the message that the company's hamburger patties are made from 100 per cent beef and many of its ingredients are brands commonly available in supermarkets.

McDonald's spent around $20 million in the year to June on advertising, according to Nielsen Media, making it one of the country's top 20 advertisers.

Auckland University of Technology senior advertising lecturer Dave Bibby said the campaign "lacks the sparkle" of the company's past advertising and was "overtly defensive".

One of the rules of advertising was to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative - but the Take a Closer Look scheme seemed to dwell on the negative. He said the launch of its salads menu with ads featuring Sarah Ulmer was a better strategy than "trying to convince the doubters, who are probably not going to be convinced anyway".

Obesity Action Coalition executive director Celia Murphy, a former dietitian, said the advertising campaign did nothing to change the problem of people who ate too much of the company's products.

"So what if their meat is 100 per cent beef - they are still using advertising tactics that we don't approve of," she said. "What they are aiming to do, of course, is reassure people that this is a marvellous place for them to eat. It doesn't change anything about McDonald's."

McDonald's Restaurants NZ managing director Grainne Troute said the ads aimed to correct damaging and "ludicrous" myths by presenting facts.

"If people don't trust your brand, then you have barriers around visiting you," she said. "What we are trying to do is remove those barriers where they have no basis, so that people feel more comfortable about coming to McDonald's - and coming to McDonald's more often."

She said the rumours were due to an "anti-sentiment" about the company - and added that McDonald's shakes did not contain pig fat and never had. "It's not true. Sometimes I will facetiously answer that question by saying 'why would we take out perfectly good dairy fat and put in pig fat?'

"It's one of those ludicrous things that you wonder how it gets such traction."

McDonald's will invite the public into its kitchens for a behind the scenes look later this year.