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Grimace Shake

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Grimace Shake
Product typeFast Food
OwnerMcDonald's
IntroducedJune 12, 2023
DiscontinuedJune 29, 2023

The Grimace Shake is a berry-flavored milkshake that was sold at McDonald's restaurants in the United States during June 2023. It was released as part of the Grimace Birthday Meal promotion.[1]

Background

The character Grimace was first introduced in the McDonaldland media franchise in 1972 as "Evil Grimace".[2] In the 1980s, McDonald's created the character Uncle O'Grimacey (a relative of Grimace) to promote Shamrock Shakes in March.[3]

In June 2023 the Grimace shake was released as part of the Grimace Birthday Meal, which came with the choice of a Big Mac or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, a medium side of fries, and the purple shake.[1][4]

Marketing

A post on Instagram by McDonald's official brand account included a series of photos of the character celebrating his birthday alongside some friends and the meal itself.[2][‡ 1] To accompany the release of the meal, McDonald's also put out a Grimace-centric retro game developed by Krool Toys and other Grimace-inspired merchandise.[5][‡ 2] They also suggested that people to donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities "in lieu of gifts" for Grimace.[6] Commercials for the meal used the song "Feel So Good" by Mase.

In popular culture

Before the drink's release, users on social media began posting fanart and memes featuring Grimace.[7]

A TikTok trend with the hashtag #GrimaceShake began circulating after the release of the shake, in which users record themselves drinking the shake and finding themselves in unusual positions and in strange locations, or being discovered dead while covered in the drink. The videos are staged to look like a crime scene with the shake splattered around, implying that Grimace is responsible for their transformation.[8][9] This led to the videos being called a "Grime Scene" and Grimace being deemed a "Griminal".[10] The trend stems from a similar trend involving the Whopper released to promote Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse due to both products having unnatural colors.[11] Another trend that has been influenced by this trend involving other shakes released by Krispy Kreme and Cold Stone to promote the Barbie film, where instead of a person being in an unusual position usually covered in the drink is instead making characters or people more feminine or "yassified".[12][13]

As of June 27, the hashtag had over 263 million views.[14] McDonald's has acknowledged the trend in social media, stating (as Grimace), "meee pretending i don't see the grimace shake trendd [sic]."[8][15][‡ 3][‡ 4] The trend has been noted as an example of viral marketing.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Tyko, Kelly (7 June 2023). "McDonald's to release Grimace meal with purple shake". Axios. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b Quinn, Dave (14 June 2023). "What Is the Grimace murders? All About McDonald's Beloved Purple Character Who's Actually a Taste Bud". People. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  3. ^ O'Keefe, Dan (14 March 2022). "Remembering Uncle O'Grimacey, McDonald's Bizarre Shamrock Shake Mascot". GuiltyEats. Archived from the original on March 10, 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Boscamp, Emi (9 June 2023). "Grimac inspired a new McDonald's shake. But what is he, exactly?". Today. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  5. ^ "McDonald's just released a Grimace Game Boy Color game". Engadget. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  6. ^ Reiter, Amy (7 June 2023). "McDonald's New Purple Grimace Shake Tastes Like Sweet Berry Cereal Milk". Food Network. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  7. ^ Panella, Chris (16 June 2023). "McDonald's brought back its iconic mascot Grimace for an unhinged marketing scheme that's taking the internet by storm". Insider Inc. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  8. ^ a b Holtermann, Callie (2023-06-29). "In a TikTok Trend, Grisly Scenes of Purple Milkshake Horror". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  9. ^ Nambiar, Prerna (25 June 2023). "Grimace Shake Meme Explained As The Trend Takes Over TikTok". HITC. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  10. ^ "What is the Grimace Shake trend on TikTok?". Dexerto. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  11. ^ Wheless, Erika (27 June 2023). "Behind The Grimace Shake TikTok Trend And How McDonald's Is Responding". Ad Age. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  12. ^ Leishman, Rachel (4 July 2023). "The Grimace Shake Takes, but the Barbie Shake Is Giving". The Mary Sue. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  13. ^ Sun, Esther (7 July 2023). "Move over, Grimace: The Barbie shake trend is taking over TikTok". Today. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  14. ^ Koh, Reena (27 June 2023). "The 'Grimace Shake' TikTok trend has Gen Z pretending to pass out in random places after drinking the McDonald's special purple drink". Insider Inc. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  15. ^ Perez, Kate (27 June 2023). "Viral Grimace shake trend has TikTokers covered in McDonald's special dessert". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  16. ^ Di Placido, Dani (28 June 2023). "McDonald's 'Grimace Shake' Meme, Explained". Forbes. Retrieved 29 June 2023.

Primary sources

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ^ "me and my friendss celebrating with my bday meal and shake @ mcds ❤️". Instagram. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  2. ^ "YOU'RE INVITED: McDonald's Celebrates Grimace's Birthday with Special Meal & Shake". www.mcdonalds.com. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  3. ^ "meee pretending i don't see the grimace shake trendd". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  4. ^ "woww lots of peoplee r tryingg the grimace shake". TikTok. Retrieved 2023-07-01.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grimace_Shake&oldid=1165409865"