In 2003, some Happy Meals came with a toy tank. Tia Hunt checks out the features (file photo).

McDonald's has revealed it is making changes to the way it presents toys it offers with its Happy Meals, after an online storm broke out over its gendered options.

Tokoroa woman Imogene Louise posted on the McDonald's page, wondering why she was asked if the Happy Meal she was ordering was for a boy or a girl.

"Let me tell you something about my daughter," she wrote. "She loves cars. And trucks. And bikes. And skateboards. And pretty much anything with wheels... I can guarantee if she was given the choice of a toy vehicle or a Barbie doll, the vehicle would win nine times out of 10. Her preferences are in no way correlated with her genitalia."

She said it would be better to ask kids which of the options they would prefer.

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The post has so far attracted almost 5000 comments. Louise said she had been surprised by the response. "I honestly didn't think what I was suggesting was so progressive. I thought as a society we were kind of past the separation of boy and girl toys."

A spokesman for McDonald's said it was something the chain was working on.

"We agree that children should be free to have an interest in whatever toys they like, regardless of their gender. We realise that how our Happy Meals are identified may not be supportive of this."

He said changes were under way.

"In the next few months we'll permanently be adding the choice of books with Happy Meals. We're using this as an opportunity to look at how we ask customers what option they would like. We're also working with our toy suppliers to look at options going forward."

Louise said she was undecided about whether that was an acceptable response. "I'm glad to hear it's something they are working on but at the same time I feel inclined to believe it when i see it."

Bodo Lang, a marketing lecturer at the University of Auckland, said McDonalds seemed to have been going with the market.

"Many toys are gendered because this makes them comply with conceptions of what genders 'want'. Such conceptions are created through a myriad of factors, such as advertising, product design, assumed and lived gender stereotypes and biological differences," he said.

"Put simply, such conceptions lead to notions that any toys that are blue, black and aiming for mastery of a skill are for boys and that toys in pink, yellow and are aimed at relationship building are for girls. Interestingly, by following the market, McDonald's is also, of course, contributing to the development of such stereotypes."

McDonald's is also phasing out the option of having a non-barista coffee with its breakfast combos.

In many restaurants, customers can now only have a hot chocolate at no extra charge with their breakfast combos. if they want a coffee, they must pay for the upgrade to a McCafe barista version.

The spokesman said: "Last year we started offering McCafe coffees at drive-thru, where previously it was the press button machine. Now that we're able to offer McCafe coffee to all our customers the need and demand for the press button coffee has declined.

"At the moment customers could choose to upgrade to a McCafe coffee in their combo, which is very popular given the increased quality. As press button machines come up for replacement restaurants are moving to McCafe coffee as the default in combos. Where this occurs there would be a small increase in the cost given the barista-made coffee."