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McDonald’s, or rather its mascot Grimace, has finally weighed in after a limited-edition shake inspired by the character went viral on TikTok due to a disturbing new trend.
The berry-filled drink, which is currently not available in Canada, was released by the fast-food chain earlier this month to celebrate Grimace’s birthday. The mascot was introduced by McDonald’s more than five decades ago.
But now, whether intentional or not, the Muppets-like purple mascot has inspired a horror-themed trend that will likely forever be associated with the character. (If you’re averse to horror, beware of the following clips.)
On Tuesday, McDonald’s finally addressed the TikTok trend. A tweet, seemingly written by Grimace, reads: “meee pretending i don’t see the grimace shake trendd.”
“Our fans have amazing childhood memories of their birthdays at McDonald’s … and Grimace’s Birthday is all about paying homage to the amazing, fun moments we all share,” said Tariq Hassan, chief marketing and customer experience officer at McDonald’s USA, in a press release announcing the shake in the U.S.
“Grimace is the perfect lovable icon to have McDonald’s meet our fans at the intersection of nostalgia and culture.”
Many TikTok users, mostly teens and young adults, are posting videos of themselves drinking the shake and succumbing to a macabre fate, often with the purple liquid spewing from their mouth, nose or head.
The trend was reportedly started on June 13 by TikTok user Austin Frazier, according to the online meme database Know Your Meme.
Frazier told NBC News that he was inspired by another viral meme of a user pretending to be in the hospital after eating Burger King’s Spider-Verse Whopper.
But the content creator said he was surprised his new trend took off, sparking many new versions that have grown increasingly dark, more graphic, and seemingly morphing into a form of absurdist humour.
“The great part about it is that, you know, it’s a trend that kind of took off, and it allowed for creativity and allowed for people to kind of put their own pieces to it,” Frazier told the outlet.
“So even though I may have had it a certain way, you know, the format was set there, but it allowed for people to kind of create that funny humour, dark humour, horror, whatever (they) may want it to be.”
The restaurant chain’s social media also appears to be taken over by the furry mascot this month amid the birthday celebrations.
On Instagram and Twitter, McDonald’s profile picture now features a photo of the mascot with its namesake shake in front of its face.
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