Former McDonald’s chef explains why they “loved” viral Grimace Shake trend

A former McDonald’s chef has explained why the company loved the viral Grimace Shake trend, even if it did appear “negative” to many viewers. 

If you scrolled through TikTok at any point from late June onwards, you will have more than likely come across the Grimace Shake trend. The bizarre trend was spawned following McDonald’s decision to celebrate the 52nd birthday of the popular purple character. 

In some of the videos, would head to their local McDonald’s store, purchase the drink, and pretend that they’d committed a crime in the name of Grimace. In others, customers played dead, as if they’d been poisoned by Grimace for taking a sip of his drink. 

Given that many of the videos were filmed like horror movie scenes, some viewers applauded it for being creative. However, others were wary that it could be seen as a negative. Ultimately, it was a success for the fast-food brand. 

McDonald’s “loved” Grimace Shake trend even if it was “negative” 

According to former McDonald’s corporate chef Mike Haracz, they actually “loved it” and were “so happy” that it became viral – even if it did have “negative” connotations. 

“As a proof point, you could go on their social media, look at their social media folks – Marketing, TikTok – go on LinkedIn and there is a variety of McDonald’s people talking about great it was,” Haracz said in his October 10 TikTok. 

“Every big old brand wants something like that to happen, if its even negative, as long as the brand does not engage or support the negative actions.” 

Haracz linked to the classic Szechuan Sauce moments in Rick and Morty, which prompted McDonald’s to bring that back a few years ago. 

At the end of the day, trend prompts sales and puts money in McDonald’s accounts, so they’re going to be pretty happy about that – especially for something that was only a limited run. Though, employees grew tired of the trend pretty fast.