Grimace Shake

The Grimace Shake was a berry-flavored milkshake sold at McDonald's restaurants in the United States from June 12 to July 9, 2023.[1] It was released as part of the Grimace Birthday Meal promotion.

Grimace Shake
Product typeMilkshake
OwnerMcDonald's
IntroducedJune 12, 2023 (2023-06-12)
DiscontinuedJuly 9, 2023 (2023-07-09)

Background

The character Grimace was first introduced in the McDonaldland media franchise in 1971 as "Evil Grimace". He steals milkshakes and is the "embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud", according to McDonald's.[2][3] The exact date of his birthday is uncertain,[lower-alpha 1] though during the Grimace Birthday promotion he was stated to be 52 years old.[8]

Product description

The Grimace Shake is a purple, berry-flavored milkshake.[9] It is a combination of vanilla soft serve and berry flavors.[10]

The shake was released as a standalone product and as part of the Grimace Birthday Meal, which consists of the shake, medium fries, and a choice of a Big Mac or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets.[9]

Roll-out

In June 2023, McDonald's announced the release by changing their profile picture on social media to a picture of Grimace looking at the Grimace Shake.[2][‡ 1] To accompany the release of the meal, McDonald's released a Game Boy-themed browser game, Grimace's Birthday, developed by Krool Toys, and other Grimace-inspired merchandise.[11][‡ 2] McDonald's paid Fandom to replace the article about Grimace on the McDonald's wiki with a promotion for its Grimace merchandise, which led to controversy. McDonald's suggested that people donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities "in lieu of gifts" for Grimace.[12] On July 9, the Grimace Shake has been discontinued.

Reception

Critical reviews

The Grimace Shake received polarized reviews. Dane Rivera of Uproxx called it the best flavor in the McDonald's milkshake lineup.[13] Delish gave it a positive review, calling it "the sweetest berry smoothie of your life".[14] Reachel Chapman, writing for Elite Daily, was "not a fan of the flavor", which she described as "very fruity and artificial tasting".[15] A review by Insider described the taste as smooth and not too sweet, but also artificial and ultimately underwhelming.[16] Steven Luna of Mashed.com said that despite the shake being "pretty" and "magical-looking", it was disappointing and a "troubling tribute to a garrulous grape-colored goofball who deserves so much better".[17]

Other media

Before the drink's release, users on social media began posting fan art and memes featuring Grimace.[18]

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.[19][20][21] The trend stemmed from a similar trend involving the Whopper released to promote Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse due to both products having unnatural colors.[21] The trend spread to other products, such as Barbie-themed products by Krispy Kreme and Cold Stone, where consumers appear more feminine or "yassified" after consumption.[22][23] As of July 12, the hashtag had over one billion views.[2]

Guillaume Huin, the social media director for McDonald's, said the Grimace Shake trend was unexpected and described it as "brilliant creativity, unfiltered fun, peak absurdist gen z humor". However, at the time he felt that acknowledging the trend would be risky, as he felt that "the campaign was already wildly successful, both on a social and business standpoint, so why would we take the 'risk' to jump in?".[24][25][‡ 3] McDonald's later acknowledged the trend in social media, stating (as Grimace), "meee pretending i don't see the grimace shake trendd [sic]."[19][26][‡ 4][‡ 5] The trend has been noted as an example of viral marketing.[27]

Controversies

Fandom advertisement

Around the time of the June 2023 release, staff on the wiki hosting service Fandom replaced the entry for Grimace on the fan-run McDonald's wiki with a paid advertisement from McDonald's promoting the Grimace Shake as well as various other pieces of Grimace media, such as the video game. Fandom received widespread backlash; original article author Nathan Steinmetz, who populated Grimace's article, said that the move disrupts editorial independence. Fandom staff stated that the paid advertisement from McDonald's would only last for the duration of the Grimace Shake promotion; staff further protected the page from editing for the duration of the promotion.[28][29][30]

The move from McDonald's was cited by the Minecraft wiki community, which hosted on Fandom since the company's acquisition of Gamepedia from Curse LLC, as a reason to consider a move away from Fandom to new wiki hosting services.[31][32][33] On September 24, the wiki moved to a new website.[34][35][36]

Notes
  1. Sources vary on the birth date of Grimace. While some sources during the Grimace Birthday promotion stated that his birthday was on June 12,[4][5] other sources state that this is only the date when McDonald's started their Grimace Birthday promotion.[6][7] The Los Angeles Times and Polygon indicate the uncertainty of Grimace's birthday:

References
  1. "The Grimace Birthday Meal Isn't Available Anymore — Here's What You Should Know". July 14, 2023.
  2. Kayembe, Astrid (July 12, 2023). "Why was the internet obsessed with McDonald's mascot Grimace — and his shake?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  3. Boscamp, Emi (June 9, 2023). "Grimace inspired a new McDonald's shake. But what is he, exactly?". Today. Archived from the original on June 26, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  4. Lamour, Joseph (June 15, 2023). "McDonald's says its Grimace Shake is berry-flavored. Customers have other theories". TODAY.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  5. Wong, Ashley; Choo, Lindsey (July 12, 2023). "How McDonald's Turned Grimace Into TikTok Gold". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  6. Andrew, Scottie (June 28, 2023). "How the McDonald's Grimace shake became the stuff of nightmares on TikTok | CNN Business". CNN. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  7. Murray, Conor. "The McDonald's Grimace Shake's Viral (And Gruesome) TikTok Trend, Explained". Forbes. No. 28 June 2023. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  8. Alexander, Cristina (June 13, 2023). "McDonald's Released a Brand-New Game Boy Color Game for Grimace's Birthday". IGN Southeast Asia. Archived from the original on July 19, 2023. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  9. Gibson, Kelsie. "What Does the Grimace Milkshake Taste Like? All About the Viral McDonald's Drink". People. Archived from the original on July 16, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  10. "McDonald's says its Grimace Shake is berry-flavored. Customers have other theories". TODAY.com. June 15, 2023. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  11. "McDonald's just released a Grimace Game Boy Color game". Engadget. June 14, 2023. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  12. Reiter, Amy (June 7, 2023). "McDonald's New Purple Grimace Shake Tastes Like Sweet Berry Cereal Milk". Food Network. Archived from the original on June 26, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  13. "We Tried McDonald's Grimace Birthday Shake -- Is It Any Good?". UPROXX. June 16, 2023. Archived from the original on July 16, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  14. "We Tried The McDonald's Limited-Edition Grimace Shake—Here Are Our Unfiltered Thoughts". Delish. June 7, 2023. Archived from the original on July 16, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  15. "Here's What TikTok's Viral Grimace Shake From McDonald's Actually Tastes Like". Elite Daily. July 3, 2023. Archived from the original on July 14, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  16. Panella, Erin; McDowell, Chris. "We tried the purple Grimace milkshake from McDonald's and still can't figure out what it tastes like". Insider. Archived from the original on September 9, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  17. "McDonald's Grimace Shake Review: It Deserves A Grimace". Mashed. June 17, 2023. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  18. Panella, Chris (June 16, 2023). "McDonald's brought back its iconic mascot Grimace for an unhinged marketing scheme that's taking the internet by storm". Insider Inc. Archived from the original on September 9, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  19. Holtermann, Callie (June 29, 2023). "In a TikTok Trend, Grisly Scenes of Purple Milkshake Horror". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 1, 2023. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  20. Andrew, Scottie (June 28, 2023). "How the McDonald's Grimace shake became the stuff of nightmares on TikTok". CNN. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  21. "McDonald's Grimace breaks his silence on TikTok trend". NBC News. June 29, 2023. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  22. Leishman, Rachel (July 4, 2023). "The Grimace Shake Takes, but the Barbie Shake Is Giving". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  23. Sun, Esther (July 7, 2023). "Move over, Grimace: The Barbie shake trend is taking over TikTok". Today. Archived from the original on July 9, 2023. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  24. Jackson, Sarah. "McDonald's social chief: We didn't plant 'Grimace Shake' TikTok trend — and we weren't sure we should jump on it". Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  25. "McDonald's head of social media was as shocked as we were about the Grimace Shake trend". TODAY.com. July 13, 2023. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  26. Perez, Kate (June 27, 2023). "Viral Grimace shake trend has TikTokers covered in McDonald's special dessert". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on July 1, 2023. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  27. Di Placido, Dani (June 28, 2023). "McDonald's 'Grimace Shake' Meme, Explained". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  28. Dodgson, Lindsay. "McDonald's upset a Grimace superfan by replacing his exhaustive wiki page for the character with an ad". Insider. Archived from the original on September 9, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  29. Razali, Izzatul (June 20, 2023). "Man Behind Grimace's Wiki Page Gets Upset As Page Is Replaced by McDonald's Ads". IGN Southeast Asia. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  30. "McDonalds & Fandom Replaced A Wiki Page With An Advertisement". Kotaku. June 19, 2023. Archived from the original on July 16, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  31. Stanton, Rich (July 10, 2023). "Official Minecraft wiki editors so furious at Fandom's 'degraded' functionality and popups they're overwhelmingly voting to leave the site". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  32. "Minecraft wiki considers moving on from Fandom". PCGamesN. July 11, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  33. "Minecraft's Wiki Site Has Gotten So "Degraded" Its Editors Are Voting To Leave En Masse". DualShockers. July 11, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  34. Stanton, Rich (October 3, 2023). "Minecraft wiki completes exit from Fandom, gets ready to fight its own zombified corpse". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  35. @MinecraftWikiEN (September 24, 2023). "The Minecraft Wiki has decided to leave Fandom and we finally have the new wiki up and ready! This allows us to bring many improvements such as significantly fewer ads and faster load times. Please see the following page for more details about the move" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  36. "Minecraft Wiki:Moving from Fandom". Minecraft Wiki. Retrieved September 24, 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. June 13, 2023. Archived from the original on June 26, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  2. "YOU'RE INVITED: McDonald's Celebrates Grimace's Birthday with Special Meal & Shake". www.mcdonalds.com. Archived from the original on September 9, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  3. Guillaume, Huin. "I have received so many questions about the Grimace Trend and how McDonald's handled it". Twitter. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  4. "meee pretending i don't see the grimace shake trendd". Twitter. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  5. "woww lots of peoplee r tryingg the grimace shake". TikTok. Archived from the original on July 1, 2023. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
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