McDonald's 'Grimace's Birthday' campaign is a stroke of nostalgic marketing brilliance
Plus, I go in search of Grimace at legacy McDonald's restaurants.
McDonald’s, as you know, has just about erased all traces of the architectural era in which Grimace and his McDonaldland friends thrived — the early 1970s into the early 2000s. And those characters were retired from its marketing long ago, when selling fast food to kids so overtly became dangerous, so much so that Gen Z has only a passing familiarity with Grimace and the gang.
But that’s changing.
In recent years, the Golden Arches has been selectively tapping its ample vault of nostalgic iconography. For instance, they reimagined the Hamburglar in 2015 as a hirsute hipster, and more recently, he was back, no longer a hipster, to promote its upgraded Big Macs. Last year, they trotted out “Adult Happy Meals” featuring toy McDonaldland characters, but with two sets of eyes, a nod to the chain’s creative collaboration with the Cactus Plant Flea Market streetwear brand. I wrote about that campaign in The Retrologist last year.
And now, Grimace is back, in a celebration of his presumably 52nd birthday. (The clever brains behind the campaign decided he was born in June, figuring he’s got a “lovable” emotionally accessible air about him that makes him fit into a Cancer Zodiac profile, Erika Wheless reports in an excellent Ad Age article that makes a subscription worth it.)
[Side note: Grimace’s return to McDonald’s restaurants reminds me of the hilariously relatable meme going around for years: One of the McDonalds staff just told me they didn't know who Grimace was and my brain went haywire and I blurted out "He fucking WORKS here"]
Grimace was introduced along with the other McDonald’s characters in 1971, and he was originally called Evil Grimace, sprouting four arms designed to steal milkshakes.
In this circa 1971 commercial, Ronald McDonald appears to try to drown Evil Grimace because the quadro-armed purple blob is thirsting for the clown’s shakes!
Evil Grimace was perhaps too evil for impressionable children, and so the “Evil” monicker (and his second set of milkshake-grabbing arms) were dropped, and he morphed into that lovable lug, that purple goofball we know today.
It speaks to McDonald’s marketing muscle that they could turn a negative word — grimace — evoking a face contorted in disgust, into a word that evokes fondness, friendliness and, well, a fiendish desire for fast food.
The birthday campaign does not actually feature Grimace, at least at the “point of contact,” the store. (He is on social posts as well as a 1980s-style online game that also features his pals the Hamburglar and Birdie.)
The purple color and deliciously sweet shake are the only hints of the massive mascot. Some of the clear plastic cups feature the words “Celebrate Grimace’s Birthday” and are festooned with a colorful confetti design. Employees, however, do sport purple T-Shirts featuring Grimace. Food containers feature the same design as the cups, but no Grimace.
This is all clearly marketed at people who don’t need to see Grimace to visualize him. People like me. I am only two years younger than Grimace.
The campaign, from the excitement it has inspired on social media, appears to be a hit.
This, even though the shake has been described as a “Purple Blob of Exquisite Mystery.” (I like how it tastes — it’s an indefinable berry-ish taste with a vanilla base. Best not to ask. I’ll have another.)
While Gen Z grew up largely in a Grimace-free world, early Millennials, Gen Xers, and the late Boomers are all too familiar with him, and these occasional nostalgia-based campaigns tap into decades of marketing embedded deep in our collective consciousness. It’s as if McDonald’s emits a dog whistle, rousing millions to action and back to their local McDonald’s as though it were 1985 all over again. That old advertising spend is still paying dividends, once it is activated in a novel way in the present day.
The older, Grimace-familiar generations talk to younger folks about these McDonald’s characters and traditions, sparking interest in them among children. Indeed, these campaigns effectively create connections with the kids who have no emotional ties with these otherwise retired McDonald’s mascots, and are thus brought into the fold, even though it’s WE — those who remember these characters and get excited by these campaigns — who are ultimately playing the part of marketers.
We become unpaid micro-influencers for McDonald’s, absorbed into one big marketing operation, driven by nostalgia.
Adam Chandler, the author of the excellent book Drive-Thru Dreams, makes a similar point in the Ad Age article:
“I think that younger generations who didn't grow up with these characters might be curious about them … They might feel like they are being welcomed into a confederation of generations. If the people around you grew up with them, but they have no resonance for you, there might be excitement to be gained by interacting with these characters. It sounds silly, but if you listen to people talk about core memories and cultural artifacts, having access to them probably means something.”
McDonald’s does not have to rebuild PlayPlaces with these characters or restore the mansard buildings they are relentlessly demolishing. The act of merely hinting at a vintage character’s existence (again, Grimace is hardly seen in this campaign) is sufficient to drive social conversation, sales and widen the circle — and lower the age — of people connected emotionally to the brand.
It’s an interesting, smart tactic, and I’m curious to see how McDonald’s continues to play with its rich legacy. I promise I’d be over the moon if they brought back Mac Tonight for a campaign to goose evening sales, just like they did when they introduced the character nationally in 1987.
Grimace may not be on display in stores celebrating his birthday, but I’m always looking for that friendly purple presence whenever I visit a vintage McDonald’s, of which there aren’t too many left.
Here are some photos of Grimace spotted in his native habit, where he indeed works, to reference the meme I quoted farther up. Sadly, some of these locations are now renovated or closed, with Grimace gone, too, but they still were thrills to find in my travels not that long ago.
McDonald’s, Liberty, New York
This location has since been boxed, but as of 2021, Grimace and friends still survived on the wall and in windows.
McDonald’s, Garden State Parkway, Bloomfield, New Jersey
A reader tipped me off to this McDonald’s off the Garden State Parkway. Before you start making travel plans, I’m sad to report it closed at the end of 2021. I’m told the statues were salvaged.
Unofficial McDonald’s Museum, San Bernardino, California
I’ll refer you, below, to my tribute to Albert Okura, who was the keeper of the remarkable museum of McDonald’s memorabilia on the site of the first McDonald’s.
A curator of McDonald's history and savior and owner of a Route 66 ghost town, the late Albert Okura leaves a shining roadside legacy
One of the good guys along the great American road has died. Good guy doesn't quite cut it. Hero is more like it. I never had the honor of meeting Albert Okura, but people who love roadside Americana, who are preservationists at heart, who are sweet on fa…
McDonald’s Playland Mural, West Saint Paul, Minnesota
These murals are relics of a McDonaldland in West Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Playland, as it was also called, is long closed, but the murals are a reminder of the fun that used to happen at this McDonald’s, and yes, that’s our friend, Grimace, when he was much younger than 52! Below is an amazing 16-mm film news report from WCCO-TV featuring this location, digitized by my friend and McDonald’s collector extraordinaire Tom Oszman, who tipped me off to this location. [MAP][VINTAGE PHOTOS]
McDonald’s, Cresson, Pennsylvania
This McDonald’s is a gem, renovated and yet still hanging on to its (now gray) mansard roof, a happy outcome I’ve seen at one other location. And those murals still entertain us in the parking area. It’s clearly a shop with a sentimental attachment to the brand’s legacy. [MAP]
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It's a shame McD's didn't celebrate Grimace's birthday again this year but the Mets sort of made up for it.
Great analysis, particularly the generational parts.