What the hell is McDonald's Grimace?
It's what we've all been waiting for: We're finally discovering more information about Grimace, the purple puppet man and friend of Ronald McDonald.
It's all thanks to the manager of a McDonald's franchise in Windsor, Canada. During an interview about his being named Outstanding Manager of the Year, Brian Bates told CBC News that Grimace is actually…a taste bud?
"He is an enormous taste bud, but a taste bud nonetheless," Bates said, adding that Grimace's purpose is to show that McDonald's food tastes good.
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It's one of those rumors that comes up every now and then and demands a debunk. In 2012, McDonald's tweeted matter-of-factly that "Grimace is the embodiment of a milkshake, though others still insist he's a taste bud." But in 2014, the company appeared to be less sure, tweeting that Grimace lore dictates that he is either "the embodiment of a milkshake" or "a taste bud."
What does it mean to be the embodiment of a milkshake? And why would the embodiment of a milkshake be purple?
Grimace started out as a four-armed villain who was intent on stealing milkshakes and started each sentence with the word "duh." It would be an interesting choice for the company to make him steal milkshakes if he himself was also a milkshake — unless it was a "saving my kind" storyline, kind of like the dogs in '90s children's movies who let out all the other dogs from the pound. Or perhaps we should just consider him the Hamburgler of milkshakes.
He was later changed into a good guy, because, according to a QSR Magazine column from former McDonald's creative officer Roy Bergold, "he scared kids." So Grimace stopped stealing, lost two of his arms, and became one of the best friends of Ronald McDonald.
Importantly, though, Grimace doesn't look like a milkshake. As HuffPost pointed out, he does actually look a bit like he was inspired by taste buds and papillae, the tiny raised bumps on your tongue that contain taste buds, though.
So what's Grimace? Maybe it depends what you want him to be.
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
