![Grimace A photo of the mcdonalds mascot Grimace eating a child.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/045/328/geccover.jpg)
Grimace
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About
Grimace is one of several mascots for McDonald's fast-food restaurants, depicted as a rotund, purple creature. Grimace first appeared in a series of McDonald's "McDonaldland" television commercials in 1971, depicted as a villain with six hands that steals McDonald's milkshakes. Over the following decades, Grimace was repurposed into a more friendly, dumb character. Grimace became the subject of memes throughout the 2000s, including rumors that he is a giant tastebud. On June 12th, 2023, McDonald's celebrated Grimace's birthday by giving him his own meal, including a purple "Grimace shake" that subsequently went viral and sparked memes online.
Origin
The earliest known appearance of Grimace is in a series of "McDonaldland" commercials televised between 1971 and 1973. In the commercials, Grimace is shown stealing kids' milkshakes for himself (shown below). In later years, Grimace would become a more friendly character, depicted as simple or dumb. He was also redesigned to have two arms rather than six.
Spread
Grimace Eating a Child
One of the earliest memes featuring Grimace to spread online is a photoshop of Grimace seemingly eating a child. The image was shared online as early as December 2007 and possibly first shared on the AnthemRO forum on December 2nd that year,[6] although the earliest available upload was posted to Weebly[7] on August 27th, 2009 (shown below).
![Grimace Eating Child](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/604/996/a89.jpg)
"What Is Grimace?" Debate
On October 30th, 2014, the official @McDonaldsCorp Twitter[8] account posted, "Have a burning McD's nostalgia question? Join our Archivists on Twitter today from 12-1 CT to chat about McD’s history! #AskAnArchivist." That day, Twitter user @margo_padilla asked, "What is Grimace?" The account responded, " #Grimace lore says he is the embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud. What do you think?" leaving the official answer open to debate (shown below).
![Grimace is a taste bud](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/604/997/9a9.jpg)
Grimace's Birthday Meal / Grimace Shake
On June 5th, 2023, the @McDonalds Twitter[1][2][3] page posted a series of tweets written as if by Grimace, explaining that Grimace had a surprise coming on June 6th (shown below). One tweet encourages viewers to text "707-932-4826" to learn more.
![it grimace i’m taking over McDonald's @McDonalds it grimace i'm taking over McDonald's @McDonalds - Jun 5 fhioea;odijcfaewklcldW 12:39 PM-Jun 5, 2023 7.2M Views ...](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/604/985/abb.jpg)
![i have suprise on 6/6 txt me 707-932-4826 McDonald's @McDonalds i have suprise on 6/6 txt me 707-932-4826 5:44 PM-Jun 5, 2023-37.5M Views â €](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/604/987/504.jpg)
The next day, the account posted a tweet[4] announcing Grimace's birthday on June 12th, coinciding with the release of the Grimace meal and Grimace shake, a purple, berry-flavored milkshake, garnering over 23,000 likes in six days (shown below).
![i finallyy got my own grimace meal and purple shake :) McDonald's @McDonalds i finallyy got my own grimace meal and purple shake :) GRIMACE'S BIRTHDAY GRIMACE celebration starts 6/12 At participating McDonald's for a limited time. While supplies last. 10:33 AM Jun 6. 2023 6.6M Views](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/604/991/1fb.jpg)
The tweets inspired numerous memes about Grimace's surprise and his birthday. For example, on June 6th, Twitter[5] user @ben_rosen tweeted, "a june 12 birthday suggests grimace may have been conceived on September 11," garnering over 23,000 likes in six days (shown below, left). On June 8th, Twitter user @davidmackau posted a photo of what appears to be a Grimace dick pic, writing, "texted grimace and he just sent me this??" garnering over 89,000 likes in four days (shown below, right).
![a june 12 birthday suggests grimace may have been conceived on september 11 Ben Rosen @ben_rosen a june 12 birthday suggests grimace may have been conceived on september 11 GRIMACES BIRTHDAY New Berry Flavored Grimace Milkshake! GRIMACE celebration starts 6/12 At participating-McDonald's for a limited time. While supplies last @snackolator ...](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/604/993/f02.jpg)
![texted grimace and he just sent me this?? David Mack @davidmackau texted grimace and he just sent me this?? …..](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/604/994/f6d.jpg)
On June 12th, 2023 (the day of the meal's release), YouTuber[9] TheReportOfTheWeek posted a review of the Grimace meal, giving it an 8/10 overall and garnering over 100,000 views in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, Badlands Booker posted a video to YouTube[11] chugging the shake, garnering over 30,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).
On that date, McDonald's also released an official video game based on Grimace titled Grimace's Birthday, produced by Krool Toys. The game is meant to resemble Gameboy Color games and is playable on grimacesbirthday.com[10] (playthrough shown below).
Related Memes
McNuggies
McNuggies is a poorly drawn illustration of McDonald's character Grimace posing in a seductive manner and asking the question "What's wrong, Ronald-kun? Could it be you're craving my McNuggies?" presumably in reference to his prominently featured posterior. The drawing was originally posted in 2012.
![mcnuggies whats wrong, ronald-kun? could it be youre... craivng my mcnuggies????](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/279/233/7f3.jpg)
Various Examples
![DONT DRINK THE F------ GRIMACE SHAKE leastfavorite! @leastfavorite_ DONT DRINK THE F------ GRIMACE SHAKE ALT FIRS RESP](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/605/340/509.jpg)
![going to McDonald’s to get a Grimace shake Carrie Wittmer : @carriesnotscary going to McDonald's to get a Grimace shake ***](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/605/341/ffb.jpg)
![💜 HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIMACE 🥹 💜 ㅌ 80 =](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/605/342/472.jpg)
![The Grimace THE GRIMACE A Ronald McDonald Film Drive](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/605/345/e06.jpg)
![McKira Cax 85 yo MCKIRA ROBBLE secccents](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/605/343/e2f.jpg)
![some good at school others good at driving on lean SOME GOOD AT SCHOOL OTHERS GOOD AT DRIVING ON LEAN](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/605/344/1bc.jpg)
Search Interest
External References
[6] AnthemRO (Wayback) – AnthemRO
[7] Weebly – Grimace Eats Children
[8] Twitter – McDonaldsCorp
[9] YouTube – TheReportOfTheWeek
[10] GrimacesBirthday – grimacesbirthday
[11] YouTube – BadLandsChugs
Top Comments
Pikazilla
Jun 15, 2023 at 07:41PM EDT
Autumn Able Moderator
Jun 13, 2023 at 11:02PM EDT