Rio Ferdinand, Grace Dent and nutrition influencer Tyler Butt face criticism for promoting McDonald's - as fans say they're 'selling out' by being paid to promote the fast food giant

McDonald's has teamed up with famous faces from the world of food and sport in recent months - but some fans aren't convinced by the paid partnershipsRead more: The mother and daughter who LIVE in McDonald's: Women, aged 64 and 31, have spent 19 hours a day in Brazilian branch for three months

Rio Ferdinand became the latest famous face to experience what it's like when #collabs with major brands go down like a lead balloon with fans last week - after he faced an onslaught of criticism for teaming up with McDonald's.

The former Manchester United star shared a snap to his Instagram account, which boasts 6.1million followers, of himself posing in front of a McDonald's Happy Meal to promote Mental Health Awareness Week.

The former England defender, 45, partnered with the fast food giant in a social media commercial that saw the smile removed from Happy Meals boxes in a bid to get people talking about young people's mental wellness.

In the post, marked as an #Ad, Rio told fans he wanted 'to help inspire more conversations around children’s mental wellbeing.'

However important the message behind the campaign was, joining forces with the global burger chain proved something of a social media own goal for the star - with the vast majority of responses to the post negative.

Rio Ferdinand has joined forces with McDonald's this week - who've taken the smile off their Happy Meals for Mental Health Awareness Week. However, the sports stars involvement with the fast food giant has been widely criticised

One wrote: 'oh wow! How could you advertise McDonald’s? This is so disappointing.'

Another added: 'Oh ferdy man. Disappointed.'

A critic penned: 'So much wrong with this…. You need to fire your PR team.'

One person referenced Cristiano Ronaldo, who famously removed two bottles of Coca-Cola placed in front of him at a Euro 2020 press conference, telling people in Portuguese to 'drink water' instead, saying: 'Wow. Ronaldo wouldn't be happy with this! Promoting junk food for kids, disappointing'.  

Ferdinand is just one of several stars who've collaborated with the brand in recent weeks, with high profile names from the world of fine dining and healthy eating also taking paid gigs to promote those famous Golden Arches.

Restaurant critic Grace Dent, a regular on BBC One's MasterChef, has shared two posts with her followers waxing lyrical about the 'nation's favourite' beef burgers to her 205,000 Instagram followers.

Restaurant critic Grace Dent is one of a number of 'foodie' names to star in McDonald's social media posts - but the MasterChef critic doesn't allow comments on the posts about the fast food giant that she shares

The 50-year-old critic, whose day job is to review the finest restaurants in the land, has left fans 'unconvinced' by her decision to partner with the fast food brand

She told them: 'Yes, I eat in the fanciest fine dining places…but it’s no secret I have a soft spot for a cheeky, restorative McDonalds'.

Another post sees the food writer and TV star, who appeared briefly on I'm a Celebrity in 2023, posing on a giant burger at an event in London last month to promote a recipe makeover.

Perhaps aware of the potential for negative comments, Dent has switched off comments for both of the posts.

Although comments on the same post on the McDonald's UK Instagram page did make it through, with one saying: 'How much are they paying you for this? Very unconvinced over here...'

Cooking up a storm of flack: Nutrition and home cooking influencer Tyler Butt was also invited to collaborate with the burger chain...but admitted he got 'beef left, right and centre' for the paid partnership

And such was the criticism fired off at 'nutrition and home cooking' influencer Tyler Butt when he teamed up for a commercial ad with McDonald's earlier this year, he published a follow-up video defending his partnership with the brand.

Some of his 327,000 Instagram followers said they were aghast at the commercial hook-up after he posted a video of himself devouring an 'incredible' revamped version of the chain's classic burger.

One wrote: 'Unfollowed pal. Cheerio I'm sure you won't miss us though.'

Another added: 'Selling out now. Such a shame. Used to watch you for health.'

The influencer, a father-of-one who's built up an impressive following with his cooking from scratch videos, said he was all about 'balance' and thought it was a 'great opportunity' to go to McDonald's HQ.

The cook said the negative responses he'd received 'were forcing you to feel guilty about certain food choices which is not okay' and added that he'd 'genuinely been eating from McDonald's my whole life'.

Days after posting a video talking about McDonald's 'incredible' burgers he posted another video defending his decision to partner commercially with them

Butt, who has been posting content about cooking from scratch and nutrition on Instagram for four years and has 327,000 followers, said he was 'all about balance' and had been eating McDonald's burgers his whole life'

One fan responded to his video defence, saying: 'I get the whole balance thing, and I completely agree. And I like that about your videos. But I dunno, it just seems crazy to partner with such a company.'

Others were convinced by Tyler's response though, with one saying: 'Agree with your messaging Tyler, you’ve always advocated a nice bit of chocolate, bread, burger or pastry to embrace ALL food, encouraging MOVEMENT to support a decent calorie fed food regime! We all love a burger and provides a cost effective fast food option for all.'

MailOnline contacted McDonald's, Rio Ferdinand and Grace Dent for comment.

A spokesperson for McDonald's responded to the reaction to Rio Ferdinand's post: 'Our campaign is designed solely to encourage families to have positive conversations about mental health this Mental Health Awareness Week.

'The assets, created by our charity partner BBC Children in Need, feature on the iconic Happy Meal box but also through the McDonald’s Family Hub website for free, with no purchase necessary to ensure all families can access the information they might need.

'We are delighted to see such an overwhelmingly positive response to the campaign which we proudly launched on Monday and hope it supports many more families to have important conversations about their children’s mental wellbeing.'