These ads are as unstable as the ice cream machine! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the oddest and most memorable McDonald’s commercials.
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00:00 I love McDonald's sauce.
00:02 And you Kazuki.
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the oddest and most memorable
00:09 McDonald's commercials.
00:10 And while most of our list focuses on American ads, we do travel around the world for some
00:14 of these weird gems.
00:16 Lang Lang Lu!
00:20 Number 20, Runaway Girl.
00:22 A cute little girl interacting with Ronald McDonald doesn't sound at all like a weird
00:26 McDonald's commercial.
00:27 Oh, hi Ronald.
00:28 What's new?
00:29 However, what if we told you that cute little girl ran into Ronald as she was walking down
00:34 the street with a suitcase, thinking about running away from home.
00:38 Everyone keeps telling her she's too little, so she wants to run away to McDonaldland.
00:41 I'm thinking of running away to McDonaldland.
00:45 McDonaldland?
00:46 That's where I'm from.
00:47 Now, to be fair, Ronald does convince the girl to go back home, but he does so using
00:51 reverse psychology and magic.
00:53 It's done in a sweet, heartwarming way, but part of us can't get over the fact that
00:57 they used a runaway child to sell the brand.
00:59 Oh, okay.
01:01 Bye, Lindsay.
01:02 Bye!
01:03 Number 19, Being Six.
01:05 For the first 45 seconds of this minute-long ad, you'd be more likely to think you were
01:09 watching a trailer for a film by Francois Truffaut than a McDonald's commercial.
01:13 But this isn't French New Wave cinema.
01:15 This is an attempt to get you to go to Mickey D's.
01:18 So after watching a six-year-old boy experience the trials and tribulations of being a kid,
01:22 there appears in front of him the saving grace of all the tough times, McDonald's.
01:28 And as the boy bites into his hamburger, the title cards tell us that Happy Meals are compensation
01:34 for being six.
01:36 Number 18, Korean McDonald's commercial.
01:39 Many of us have had the experience of making funny faces at a little kid as a way to make
01:42 them laugh.
01:43 However, we've never, and we hope the same can be said for you, gone so far as to stick
01:48 our tongue out and scream at them.
01:54 Also, while the whole making faces thing begins as an attempt by the woman to inform the kid
02:01 that he has chocolate on his face, that premise seems to evaporate rather quickly as the face-making
02:06 intensifies.
02:11 Maybe the McDonald's ice cream in Korea is just so good that one can't control their
02:14 exaggerated reactions to it.
02:16 Or maybe this is just a weird commercial.
02:21 Number 17, How I Met Grimace.
02:24 Everyone loves a good origin story, but did we really need to know about the origin of
02:27 the Ronald and Grimace friendship?
02:29 Well, back in 1981, McDonald's thought we did, and apparently, the two friends have
02:34 known each other since they were babies, albeit large babies in oversized McBuggies.
02:39 When a baby Ronald sees what he thinks is an out-of-control buggy, he races off in his
02:43 buggy to stop it, and save the purple kid inside.
02:47 Yadda yadda yadda, and of course, it's McDonald's that finally saves the day, and begins a lasting
02:53 friendship.
02:54 Is there any problem McDonald's can't solve?
03:00 Number 16, Hats.
03:02 This one looks like you're watching some kind of try-on haul hat video.
03:05 And actually, that's pretty much what you are watching.
03:07 It literally is just Japanese model Yuri Ebihara trying on various white hats.
03:16 Known by her nickname, Ebichan in Japan, Ebihara skyrocketed to popularity in the 2000s when
03:21 the ad aired, but we're still not sure what trying on hats has to do with McDonald's.
03:25 Ebihara did several McDonald's ads, but at least the others featured actual McDonald's
03:29 food in them.
03:30 Shouldn't this ad be for hats?
03:32 A version was uploaded to YouTube featuring haunting music, racking up 1.4 million views.
03:37 This is not the original, although it certainly puts a new spin on things.
03:43 Number 15, Aussie We Do Ron Ron Ron.
03:46 We're not sure how many of the kids singing along in the commercial are aware of the 1963
03:50 song, "Da Do Ron Ron" by the Crystals, but that sure doesn't stop them from belting
03:54 out the "We Do Ron Ron Ron" in this Australian McDonald's ad.
04:04 Now on the surface, there's nothing super weird about Ronald McDonald dancing around
04:07 and singing with a bunch of kids as a way to sell the brand.
04:16 However did you happen to pick up on the fact that an older man in a clown costume is asking
04:20 a bunch of kids to do Ron Ron Ron?
04:23 Feel free to cringe now.
04:27 Number 14, Say Cheeseburger.
04:30 Asking the kids to say cheeseburger rather than just cheese to get them to smile for
04:33 a photograph seems like an obvious move for this McDonald's commercial from the 1970s.
04:42 But then, Captain Crook shows up.
04:44 For the younger generation, Captain Crook was a Filet-O-Fish loving pirate character
04:48 who made his first appearance in 1971 and was last seen in 1987.
04:52 While his appearance was eventually changed in order to look less mean, his OG look was
04:56 definitely sinister and definitely wasn't smiling.
05:00 We're not sure what's weirder about this ad, the fact that saying cheeseburger makes
05:04 him smile or the fact that we never actually see him smile, just Ronald and the kids'
05:09 reaction to it.
05:10 Yeah, you're right.
05:11 Probably the latter.
05:12 Number 13, Hiding from Father.
05:19 We can't imagine McDonald's in North America wanting to be associated with a young couple
05:22 getting busy while the girl's father is out of the house.
05:27 But apparently in Germany, the company's image isn't as wholesome as it is here, and
05:31 what initially looks more like a condom commercial than one for fast food, takes a rather funny
05:35 turn at the end.
05:40 But we definitely appreciate the joke.
05:41 We're not sure we're buying the message that McDonald's food is so delicious it's worth
05:45 revealing your half-naked self to your girlfriend's dad in order to get some.
05:51 Although those fries are really good, right?
05:53 Number 12, Pulp Fiction Parody.
05:55 The talking about McDonald's scene is one of the most iconic moments from Pulp Fiction,
05:59 and it was only a matter of time before McDonald's made a commercial parodying it.
06:07 Well that time was the mid-aughts and the place was Israel.
06:09 Two guys, who looked like they would be stand-ins for John Travolta and Sam Jackson, reenact
06:14 the scene, only in this case they referenced the fast food chain in Israel rather than
06:17 France.
06:18 They even get in a little regional dig at the end about how Israelis don't say please.
06:30 Number 11, George Bush.
06:32 We assume there are probably laws in place prohibiting a sitting American president from
06:36 doing a McDonald's commercial, or at least it would be heavily frowned upon.
06:42 But getting a presidential look-alike to do a McDonald's commercial in Israel, that's
06:45 all good.
06:46 We have to admit that this commercial, with the Secret Service rushing to secure a drive-thru
06:50 meal for the second President Bush, is good.
06:54 We're also pretty sure that, for a very brief moment when that limo window rolls down, more
06:58 than a few people watching thought it was actually George Bush in the car.
07:06 Number 10, Donald Trump meets Grimace.
07:14 It's surreal to think that the 45th President of the United States was in a McDonald's commercial
07:18 way back when.
07:19 What makes this even more unbelievable is that he starred alongside Grimace.
07:23 Donald Trump is completely blown away upon learning that McDonald's only charges $1
07:27 for a Big N' Tasty, and Grimace is apparently the mastermind behind this amazing deal, although
07:32 even he seems unclear on how exactly McDonald's pulled it off.
07:38 Nevertheless, Trump is eager to join forces with the Purple Monster.
07:43 Maybe he'll make Grimace part of his legal team.
07:45 Let's be honest, weirder things have happened.
07:50 Number 9, Cha-Cha Slide.
07:55 This commercial opens with a family sitting at a fancy dinner table in formal attire,
07:59 which is ironic considering they're eating fast food.
08:01 Seriously, how many grown men do you know that eat Mickey D's while wearing a white
08:05 collared vest?
08:06 Then out of nowhere, a kid emerges with a boombox playing DJ Casper's Cha-Cha Slide.
08:11 The hip-hop kid dips some apple slices while simultaneously dancing along to the music.
08:21 Family isn't sure what to make of this at first, but dad eventually gets into it.
08:24 It might be random, but this ad is undeniably funky, encouraging us all to play with our
08:29 food.
08:34 Number 8, Feed the Wastebaskets.
08:41 Some McDonald's commercials feel like mini episodes of Pee-Wee's Playhouse.
08:44 They're wacky, colorful, and literally anything can be a character.
08:48 For example, this commercial centers on sentient wastebaskets.
08:51 It begins with Ronald McDonald reminding us to feed the hungry trashcans your wrappers,
08:55 cups, and bags.
09:01 The bowtie-wearing bins then spring to life and sing an empowering jingle about wastebasket
09:05 awareness.
09:06 And if that's not weird enough, McDonald's also gave out wastebasket toys around the
09:10 same time this commercial came out.
09:12 Yeah, because that's what every kid wants to play with, trash bins.
09:15 Still, it's hard to fault an advertisement that encourages proper waste disposal and
09:19 gets its message across in a creative way.
09:24 Number 7, Captain Crook's Crooked Schemes.
09:27 Many villains have visited the psychedelic McDonaldland over the years, but Captain Crook
09:31 is definitely among the strangest.
09:33 This recurring character looked a lot like Captain Hook, except with googly eyes and
09:36 an expressionless face.
09:40 In this especially bizarre commercial, Captain Crook arms himself with a wooden sword and
09:45 tiny cannon.
09:46 The diabolical pirate won't let Ronald and Little Jimmy cross the bridge unless they
09:49 fork over some apple pies, and so, Ronald devises an elaborate ruse to best the pirate.
09:59 He supplies Crook with a phony apple pie treasure map, sending him on a wild goose chase.
10:03 Yep, it's just another day in McDonaldland.
10:06 Number 6, The Dinner Gong.
10:15 The Professor is another obscure McDonald's character that hit the scene in the early
10:19 70s.
10:20 In this zany commercial, the Professor shows off his latest invention, the Dinner Gong.
10:28 Of course, this isn't the most innovative invention, since gongs have been around for
10:32 a few millennia.
10:33 On top of that, his Dinner Gong still has a few bugs to work out.
10:36 Ronald and the Professor even enlist Mayor McCheese for help.
10:39 Once they finally get the gong working, they treat themselves to a meal at McDonald's
10:43 and go out on a cheesy pun.
10:47 By the way, are we the only ones who find it disturbing Mayor McCheese is eating at
10:50 a restaurant that sells hamburgers?
10:55 Number 5, What if Turks Invented Hamburgers?
10:58 Hailing from Turkey, this commercial imagines what the world would be like if the Turks
11:02 had created several inventions first.
11:04 They cover everything from the first fire, to man's first walk on the moon, to the
11:08 first robot.
11:09 Finally, they imagine a world where the Turks made the first hamburger.
11:17 In a nutshell, you get the Max Burger, a spicy Turkish delight.
11:23 We have a feeling that you probably need to be Turkish to understand all the jokes here.
11:26 Even if some of the humor throws you for a loop though, it's hard not to laugh at just
11:29 how odd this commercial is.
11:33 Number 4, Sega Electronic Games.
11:36 As a tie-in for Sonic Heroes, McDonald's released several handheld electronic games
11:40 with Happy Meals just as the games were pretty cheap.
11:43 The same can be said about this abnormal commercial.
11:47 Just look at how lifeless the animation is.
11:49 It's like they started rendering some early test animation and then gave up halfway through.
11:54 Rouge the Bat isn't even wearing any clothes.
11:58 Maybe this would have been acceptable during the 90s, but this ad came out in the early
12:02 2000s.
12:03 This is definitely one of Sonic the Hedgehog's most awkward moments, which is saying a lot
12:07 given some of his recent games.
12:11 Number 3, Tomato McGrand.
12:13 Sporting red hair, Hungarian model, Agota Varga, stars in this Japanese commercial for
12:18 the Tomato McGrand.
12:19 Her costumes, which were designed by Yoji Yamamoto, clearly resemble Rona McDonald's
12:26 costumes.
12:28 Do we even need to explain why this is weird on so many levels?
12:33 Rona McDonald has got to be the least sexual being in existence.
12:36 The idea of the character inspiring a hot female equivalent is simply mind-boggling.
12:41 As a result, this commercial isn't as stimulating as the advertisers likely intended it to be.
12:46 Let's just hope this doesn't become a trend at cosplay conventions.
12:49 Happy Meals aren't sexy, and that's just the way we like them.
12:55 Number 2, Tooth Fairy.
12:57 Commercials featuring Rona McDonald really make sense, but this particular one raises
13:00 numerous questions.
13:04 Looking at a photo album, Ronald reminisces about losing his first tooth.
13:07 He naturally leaves it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy, who kinda looks like Berda
13:11 from Two and a Half Men.
13:13 The following morning, Ronald doesn't find money, but does find a pair of red clown shoes.
13:18 Why does she leave him shoes?
13:19 What's the connection between teeth and footwear?
13:22 We don't know, but Ronald has collected enough shoes to last a lifetime.
13:25 Oh, and did we mention the shoes are living creatures that Ronald keeps prisoner in his
13:29 closet?
13:30 And we thought the wastebaskets had a bleak existence.
13:49 Number 1, Mac Tonight.
13:52 Designed to help increase business around dinner time, this outlandish character came
13:55 complete with a crescent moon head and a crooner persona.
14:03 This sunglasses-wearing oddball could often be found playing his piano on clouds, singing
14:07 a variation of Bobby Darin's classic interpretation of "Mac the Knife".
14:11 In fact, Mac Tonight shared so much in common with Darin, that McDonald's faced a lawsuit
14:15 from his estate.
14:17 These ads were trippy to say the least, but that's largely why they continue to stick
14:20 with us.
14:22 Plus, this was a breakthrough role of sorts for performer Doug Jones, who went on to appear
14:29 in multiple Guillermo del Toro movies.
14:32 Isn't that weird?
14:37 Which of these commercials left you more confused than hungry?
14:40 Let us know in the comments below!
14:51 [music]
15:00 (upbeat music)