Originally published at: When McDonaldLand sold out | Boing Boing
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What’s your favorite freaky memory of McDonaldLand?
The introduction of the Fry Guys. Also finding out later in life that it was King Moody under that makeup.
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I’m a little too young to go that far back in McDonalds commercials.
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I had forgotten all about the pirate character. But I do seem to remember that Grimace used to have 4 hands and held a shake in each one. Or perhaps I imagined it!
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Google “Evil Grimace”, he was indeed a thing but they realized it wasn’t a good idea and he changed into the loveable Grimace we all know.
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Hamburglar expresses remorse, Mayor offers to buy him a cheeseburger. Surreal indeed!
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McDonald’s pretty blatantly stole the whole “McDonaldland” idea from Sid & Marty Krofft’s H. R. Pufnstuf TV series, got sued for it by the Krofts, and lost.
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So Mayor McCheese is offering everybody burgers. Does that make him a cannibal? Or just some kind of twisted ghoul?
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More detail here…
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All they needed was a kid with a magic talking instrument and a witch to complete the rip off.
I liked H. R. Pufnstuff.
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I started to say they’d need more drug references but then I realized that would probably be redundant given these commercials. My food is walking and talking … wow.
Also:
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They also stole the “Happy Meal” from the Burger Chef chain, got sued for it, and won.
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It says they lost the lawsuit in 1977, but it seems to me they still got a lot of mileage out of the characters one way or another well into the late 1980s. And I think the whole cast still appears on the disposable plastic bibs. (Are they still printing those fresh, or did they just place an order for a bazillion of them decades ago that they’re still working through? I can’t imagine they get a great deal of use.)
I can only wonder what’s around today that will be regarded in the future as a symbol of glorious, flamboyant excess in the same way that the McDonald’s of old appears today. Unfiltered Internet, maybe.
Like most of their songs, it’s all Robble robble robble to me. (Their cover of Blitzkrieg Bop is simply wonderful!) They’re out of Chicago, but no idea if they’re still together or not. Even without the gimmick, they’re a pretty solid band.
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Hmm. Would a decent writer, a 9-figure budget, and a good director be able to produce a watchable McDonaldLand movie? I’m thinking something post-apocalyptic, but doubt corporate would go for it. Romero? Bong Joon-ho? Do we gender and race flip Mayor McCheese, or just leave the main cast a, well, sausage fest?
It was a fun punk song, but the gimmick of just saying “robble robble” past a song or two I think would tire.
Still - it was fun.
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