The "Grimace Shake" from McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) has become a viral sensation on TikTok, with users participating in a quirky trend involving the purple milkshake. The trend, marked by the hashtag #grimaceshake, involves users pretending to be poisoned after consuming the shake, creating a mock crime scene with the spilled drink. The trend has amassed over 142 million views, sparked by McDonald's reintroduction of the Grimace Birthday meal to celebrate the character's 52nd birthday.
Alongside the social media presence, the limited-time menu options, and the birthday celebration, Google Trends data shows that searches for Grimace have soared.
With Grimace once again in the spotlight, a look at five things you might not know about the legendary McDonald's character, including a mention from Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk.
1. Grimace Started Evil: While the Grimace we know and love is now a smiling and lovable character, the first version was actually Evil Grimace. This character featured two pairs of arms and tried to steal milkshakes away from people.
Grimace was later turned into a good guy and was revealed to be modeled as "an enormous taste bud" showing the restaurant's food tastes good.
2. Legendary Voices: The character Grimace was voiced by Frank Welker in commercials. Welker is one of the most popular voice characters of the past several decades. Welker has voiced characters that include Scooby-Doo, Megatron, Garfield and others over the years.
In "The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald," a six-episode animated series, Grimace was voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Richardson is known for his voice work in video games including Goro in "Mortal Kombat." Richardson has been a features voice actor on shows such as "The Simpsons," "Pokemon," "Family Guy" and "The New Batman Adventures."
3. The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: The first episode of "The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald" was released on Oct. 9, 1998. A total of six episodes were released with VHS tapes sold in stores for $3.99 with select purchases.
Along with Richardson voicing Grimace, the episodes featured voice talents such as Christine Cavanaugh (Chuckie from "Rugrats"), Pamela Adlon (Bobby Hill from "King of the Hill") and Verne Troyer, who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers films.
The VHS tapes can be found on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and several YouTube (NASDAQ: GOOGL) channels feature the episodes, including this one where more than 68 million people tuned into episode one.
4. Grimace's Family: Not all company mascots get backstories or families, but Grimace has a partial family tree that has been rounded out over the years.
Grimace's family includes unnamed parents. His grandmother's name is Winky and he has a great-grandmother named Jenny Grimace. A 1999 commercial for McDonald's revealed Grimace's aunts named Millie and Tillie. Grimace also has Uncle O'Grimacey who was used as part of an advertising campaign for Shamrock Shakes.
5. Grimace Coin: A viral tweet by Elon Musk on Twitter promised he would eat a Happy Meal from McDonald's if Dogecoin was accepted as a form of payment at the restaurants.
McDonald's responded with their own tweet calling for Grimace Coin to be accepted as a form of payment for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) vehicles.