“We like to have fun at Mr Burger“, read a statement released by hugely the hugely popular Melbourne food truck this week. “And giving someone burgers for life if they change their last name to ‘Burger’ seems about the most fun thing we can do”. The team behind Mr Burger were running what was perhaps the strangest food-related competition of the year, asking you to make a life-changing decision for a lifetime of free, juicy burgers. And we’re not talking about average fast food burgers either; Mr Burger are quite well known for pumping out some of the best in town. However, the competition has now been pulled due to a letter from the Victorian Government explaining why the competition is not allowed and would be breaking the rules upheld by the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The good news is that the competition is still – kind of – running, just the entry conditions have been changed; see below for details.*
Mr Burger’s competition originally stated that they would give one burger per day to the winner(s) for the rest of their life (or for as long as the surname is retained), as long as the name-change is confirmed, official, and legal. It’s a pretty tempting option for anyone who isn’t overly fond of their surname, and besides, ‘Burger’ isn’t the worst name in the world. Anyone over 18 (men, women, and gender non-specific) wanting to enter had to legally change their surname to ‘Burger’ and e-mail Mr Burger confirmation from the Australian Government. The team would have even covered the application fee once the e-mail had been received.*
***UPDATE***
As reported by Broadsheet Melbourne, Mr Burger’s Marketing Manager Maleik Edwards has released details about a letter received from the Victorian Government Solicitor General’s office, detailing that it will not process applications for people changing their surname to “Burger” for the purpose of winning this competition, classifying the change as “improper use”.
The letter states that “any change of name application that is made to participate in the Promotion will be rejected”, explaining that an individual would then only be able to successfully change their surname to “Burger” by providing false or misleading information about the change’s purpose, which would obviously be a lawful offence.
As such, Mr Burger have been asked to remove all promotion and advertising around the competition or face legal action. Edwards has confirmed to Broadsheet that the competition has swiftly been pulled, and instead the food truck will be giving away free burgers on Friday 1st July from 12pm to 2pm at its Melbourne Central store. Those queuing up on the day will be in for a shot at winning the “Burgers for Life” prize, as the team will pick somebody at random to win the prize as initially intended, as long as they filled out a card and drop it in a provided box. The winner will be announced on My Burger’s Facebook page at 5pm on the same day (Friday).
Image Source: Mr Burger
*Paragraph updated to reflect cancellation of the competition.
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