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Parents may think they have the hard time answering a child who asks where babies come from, but recently fired "MythBusters" cast member Grant Imahara may ultimately have the tougher job as he tries to explain to young fans why he chose to inform them about eyeballs and pink slime as the new mouthpiece for聽McDonald's.听

鈥淲hat鈥檚 鈥榩ink slime鈥� and why the heck is Grant from MythBusters saying it鈥檚 not in chicken nuggets,鈥� Quin, age 10, asked as together聽Sunday morning.听聽鈥淭elling me it鈥檚 not in there just makes me think it is. Also he鈥檚 talking about eyeballs and lips and stuff not in the food. I am never eating there. Ever.鈥�

鈥淥ur food. Your questions. What are McRib patties made of,鈥� is approach NPR was examining. The ad trades on Mr. Imahara鈥檚 reputation with kids and families as a scientist who dispels urban legends and myths on the Discovery Channel.

"Increasing transparency is generally thought to be a positive as well, for almost any business, but in particular for those focused on food. Many consumers say that they want more transparency, especially when it comes to what they鈥檙e putting inside their bodies and those of their children," .

But given my son鈥檚 response, parents who advocate healthy food choices may want to thank the corporate marketing team for this ad鈥檚 unintended effect of making McDonald's food even less appealing.

In my opinion, the corporate giant has met its destiny on the road it took to avoid it. NPR on Sundays is as much a Suhay family tradition for our four sons, ages 10-20, as Mythbusters has been since the first episode aired in 2003 (before Quin was born).

We sat together and listened as Imahara dispelled the urban legends that chicken nuggets are made of 鈥減ink slime鈥� and his assurances that 鈥渢here are no eyeballs or lips in a McRib鈥� sandwich.

鈥淲ait what? Now I have to look up the 鈥榩ink slime鈥� and eyeballs and all the stuff he鈥檚 talking about,鈥� said Quin as he abandoned the stereo for the computer and every anti-McDonald's food YouTube video ever made.

Quin also insisted on seeing the Imahara McDonald's video for himself to verify it really was his geek hero, the same electrical engineer known for the show Battle Bots, Star Wars tech work, and MythBusters.

Quin refused to believe it was a man of science shoring up the case for the same fast food his parents routinely reject as a family eating option.

In addition to dredging up all the old perceived horrors about the company鈥檚 food the selection of a former MythBuster appears to be a direct attack by the fast food giant on the parent-friendly Boston-based Corporate Accountability International which has become known in parenting circles in recent years for its anti-junk food videos titled 鈥�.鈥澛�

I called Jesse Bragg, media director for Corporate Accountability International to ask if his organization had seen the new Imahara ads.

鈥淭his campaign is just a desperate attempt to try to change people's minds about the beleaguered junk food brand- 鈥� but it misses the mark,鈥� Mr. Brag responded in email. 鈥淵es, people are concerned about what is in McDonald's food, but they're also concerned about how it's being marketed, especially to kids. Instead of making changes that actually address these concerns, the corporation comes back time and time again with more marketing to change 聽people's perception of its food instead of actually changing the food itself.鈥澛�

Bragg called the food giant 鈥渢one deaf鈥� in its approach with this ad.

鈥淧eople expect burgers to have beef in them and they expect chicken nuggets to have chicken in them,鈥� Bragg explained. 鈥淭he fact that McDonald's needs an ad campaign to convince people of this shows just how negative its reputation is. While other fast food and fast casual brands are marketing their food as higher quality, organic and non-GMO, McDonald's is still just trying to convince people its food is real.鈥澛�

Overall this campaign appears to have blown up like a MythBuster experiment gone wrong as fans take to social media to vent.

Some kids are bound to ask why Imahara is shilling for the McMan.

Parents can point to the fact that back in August the MythBusters producers decided to fire its 鈥淏uild Team鈥� members Kari Byron, Tory Belleci, and Grant Imahara so the show can revert to its original recipe of starring only the original two cast members Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, according to聽.听

I told Quin we shouldn鈥檛 condemn the actor because adults are often forced to make compromises in order to survive in a bad economy.

My son replied, 鈥淚 forgive him.鈥�

Ultimately, parents will forgive celebrities for unpopular choices more readily than they will big corporations for over processing and tapping their child鈥檚 role models in an effort to sell a burger.