McDonald's has announced the return of Grimace, the lovable purple monster who captured the hearts of children in the 1970s and 80s. The fast-food giant made the announcement on Twitter, and the response from fans and other brands was nothing short of extraordinary.
The company has changed its profile photo to that of Grimace and its social media team has been tweeting as the character.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk joined in the fun and tweeted a screenshot of a conversation between AXE deodorants and Grimace.
"An example of great interaction between brands @McDonalds @AXE," Musk tweeted along with the screenshot. The image showed McDonald's tweeting a string of nonsensical characters (fhioea;odijcfaewklcldW), to which AXE responded with concern, asking if everything was okay. McDonald's then explained, "Srry I have purple handss, (sic)" to which AXE said “I forgive you”.
In the original thread many others joined in the fun. Merriam Webster, the renowned dictionary, joined in by sharing a screenshot of the word tweeted by Grimace, which unsurprisingly, could not be found in the dictionary. Grimace, never one to back down, replied, "can we change grimace in the dictionnairy (sic)."
Webster, intrigued, asked for a definition. McDonald's, with a touch of humour, replied, "justa litttle purple guy." The playful banter continued as Grimace interacted with other commenters, saying it is learning to tweet with its purple hands.
Alongside Grimace's grand return, McDonald's will introduce a new burger and shake to its menu this summer. The highlight of the expanded menu will be the Grimace shake, described as a purple berry-flavored shake with a whipped topping. There is also a new Grimace Birthday Meal, which includes the shake, fries, and a choice of a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets or a Big Mac.
The return of Grimace is McDonald's deliberate embrace of nostalgia, harkening back to its iconic ad campaigns of the 1970s and 80s. Grimace made his debut as a large purple being with four arms and two legs who had an insatiable love for milkshakes. However, after the initial campaign, Grimace underwent a redesign, reducing his arms to two, which is the way he appears today.
Notably, the resurgence of Grimace comes at a time when McDonald's has relied less on its signature mascot, Ronald McDonald. The clown, once beloved for his association with children, faced a decline in popularity due to a series of "creepy clown sightings" that swept across the United States in 2016. Reports of individuals dressed as clowns carrying weapons transformed harmless pranks into a cause for concern, leading McDonald's to retire Ronald as its prominent mascot.
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