What began as a potentially fantastic marketing idea to allow McDonald's customers to create their own burgers backfired spectacularly when people realised they could create whatever they wanted – and give it any name they wished.

The idea was all in good taste to celebrate the new Create Your Taste touchscreens launched in-store. McDonald's ran a competition online in New Zealand for customers to create their own burgers with a QR code that allowed people to go in-store and have it made for them. The designs would then sit on the front page of their website, with the public invited to vote on their favourite.

As it launched, it looked great with Maccy D fans adding all sorts of ingredients together with innocent, creative zeal.

@mcdonalds FRYDAY #makeburgerhistory

A photo posted by Wayne Quedley (@uujq) on

Then it all went wrong. When customers realised that there were no rules for either the design or the name it all went downhill...

From 'The Girth', that was composed only of meat patties, and 'The Sad European', that consisted of one single slice of cheese, to the more NSFW names like 'Quarterpoundermyangus' and 'Rektal Prolapse', the whole idea spiralled out of control.

One burger was designed using only lettuce, which is certainly a first for McDonald's, while another went for a more political approach with two buns and no filling named the 'Bernie Socialist Feast'.

Unsurprisingly the fun did not last for long and the offensive burger names were removed from the site, along with the entire concept, no doubt teaching the fast food chain a valuable lesson about their customers in the process.