By Toutatis! Asterix McDonalds ad irks French

A McDonalds advert featuring Gallic independence symbol Asterix and his merry band of warriors feasting inside one of the US fast food giant’s restaurants has provoked the ire of French bloggers.

One Internet commentator said the ad, which has sprung up on French streets this week, was “an electric shock” and asked how the authors of the phenomenally successful comic series could have allowed such use of Asterix.

“I don’t know what to say except express my deep disgust,” wrote Georges Abitbol on the veilleurs.info website. “If this doesn’t cause traffic accidents…”

“Well done Albert Uderzo for sacrificing such a comic book monument to the Roman hordes,” wrote Abitbol, referring to the illustrator who created the indomitable characters along with late writer Rene Goscinny over 50 years ago.

Since then, the comic book adventures of the first century BC warrior have sold 325 million copies — 200 million of them abroad — and been translated into 107 languages and dialects.