Government Of Victoria Shuts Down Burger Renaming Competition

Turns out there’s a tiny hiccup in the ‘win lifetime supply of burgers if you change your last name to Burger’ competition. That hiccup is the Victorian Government which said No Deal to people changing their name for improper purposes.

Earlier this week we reported that Melbourne burger chain Mr Burger had launched a promotion to find its own Mr or Mrs Burger. If someone is willing to change their last name to Burger, the chain is offering the new individual a lifetime supply of burgers. Well, a lifetime means one free Mr Burger burger a day for as long as the person can retain the name ‘burger’.

While Mr Burger says it will cover the cost of the name change, it won’t cover the cost of subsequent new IDs the person will most likely need.

According to the restaurant’s Facebook page, the brand received a letter from the Victorian Government Solicitor’s office claiming the promo is effectively unlawful. according to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996, a name can’t be changed for an “improper” purpose:

Instead Mr Burger will be giving away free burgers from 12pm-2pm at our Melbourne Central store tomorrow. One lucky customer will win free burgers for life.

The Facebook post:

It reads:

“We’ve got bad news and we’ve got delicious news (you can skip to the end if you’d like).

“The bad news first. We regret to inform any hopeful Mr/Ms/Mrs Burgers that today (Thursday) we received a letter from the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office asking that we cease our quest in finding ‘Australia’s Next Mr (or Mrs) Burger’, stating that no applications to change one’s name to ‘Burger’ would be granted, as the process was being used for an ‘improper purpose’. Laughing time is over.

“Anyone who has officially applied and filled out the forms for a name change, please send an email to info@mrburger.com.au and we’ll re-imburse you for any fees (and throw in a few cheeky burgers too) as these fees are not refundable.

“To everyone who shared, joked, commented and laughed, we thank you. It made the last few days incredibly fun and hopefully yours too!”

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