• McDonald’s has led the fast food industry for decades, but even they have had their
fair share of bad ideas.
What meatless burger was a failed solution for Catholics during Lent?
What experiment added seaweed extract to the beef patty?
These are McDonalds’ greatest menu flops of all time.
15 – The McAfrika • The McAfrika was a United Airlines-level
PR disaster in 2002.
• McDonald’s in Norway introduced the fairly innocuous burger that came wrapped
in a pita and was topped with an “exotic” spicy mayo.
• The big problem with the McAfrika wasn’t the food, it was naming a fast food product
the “McAfrika” while the actual continent of Africa was undergoing its worst famine
in decades, and millions were on the brink of starvation.
• Naturally, McDonald’s responded to the criticism by continuing to sell the sandwich,
and then re-releasing it for the 2008 Olympics.
14 – The Arch Deluxe • The Arch Deluxe was an attempt by McDonald’s
to attract adults with a more sophisticated palate.
• They pitched the burger by pointing out features like “extra fancy ketchup” and
“a new secret sauce for grown-ups made of mustards and mayonnaise.”
Despite their attempts to make it look fancy, the Arch Deluxe was just a bacon cheeseburger
with a little pepper.
• The problem is, McDonald’s spent a lot of money on advertising for the Arch Deluxe.
They spent $150 million on commercials that showed kids being disgusted by the taste.
It’s considered one of the most expensive product flops in company history.
13 – The McSpaghetti • There are some places you just don’t
trust to do spaghetti right.
McDonald’s is one of those places.
• As poorly as McSpaghetti turned out for everyone involved, it could have been a lot
worse.
While McSpaghetti was busy tanking, they were trying out fettuccine and lasagna in test
markets.
• Oddly enough, the McSpaghetti lives on in the Phillipines, where it is reportedly
a popular and tasty menu item.
12 – The HulaBurger • McDonald’s has a hard time with Roman
Catholics during Lent.
Taking meat off the table eliminates a good portion of the McDonald’s menu, and so there
aren’t too many reasons for them to show up.
• Enter the HulaBurger, a meatless offering geared specifically to those observing Lent.
Great idea, right?
• Well, it might have been, but it’s just a piece of pineapple with cheese melted on
it, slapped on a bun. 11 – Pizza/McPizza
• McDonald’s keeps trying to sell pizza for some reason.
• On numerous occasions, McDonald’s has tried getting into pizza, and they’ve even
tried calling it “McPizza.”
It never takes off, partly because they were made-to-order and it takes too long.
• However, there is reportedly a pair of franchises in Ohio and West Virginia that
just never stopped selling the McPizza, ever since the 1990s.
Hopefully they’re not just using the rest of that 25-year-old stock to make them.
10 – Mighty Wings • Unlike a lot of these ideas, McDonald’s
may have been onto something when they introduced a series of spicy, bone-in chicken wings.
It wasn’t a terrible idea on paper.
• The problem was that people simply didn’t like them.
They lasted less than a year on the menu, and McDonald’s was so desperate to get rid
of them, they dropped the price 40 percent just to clear out the stock in what was known
as a “chicken wing clearance.”
• That might have something to do with the fact that they looked like this in the ads,
and like this in real life.
9 – Onion Nuggets • “Hey, let’s chop up some onions, batter
them, and deep fry them!”
• This is an actual thought someone had in a McDonald’s test kitchen, before someone
else decided to call them Onion Nuggets.
• They were introduced as part of a push to expand the chain’s dinner options, because
apparently a lot of people eat Onion Nuggets for dinner?
8 – The McHot Dog • The founder of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc,
banned hot dogs from all his restaurants despite all potential demand, because he thought they
were unsanitary.
• But hey, Ray Kroc died in 1984, so in the 1990s, some McDonald’s stores in the
Midwest and Canada went against the late founder’s vision and experimented with the McHot Dog.
• They no longer talk about the McHotDog.
7 – The McDLT • The basic premise of the McDLT is that
you have to put it together yourself.
• Touting a revolutionary design that was actually just two connected Styrofoam containers,
the McDLT’s packaging was meant to separate the “hot part” from the “cold” lettuce
and tomato.
• Unfortunately, this was around the time people were figuring out Styrofoam was really
bad for the environment, and that made the McDLT a double-offender.
• Also, Jason Alexander did a cringeworthy minute-long commercial complete with singing
and dancing for the McDLT in the 80’s, which is actually worse than it sounds.
6 – McSoup • McSoup is just Campbell’s soup in a
McDonald’s-branded cup.
Nobody asked for this.
• The idea was that people might go for soup in the colder months, and Campbell’s
was a familiar and trusted brand.
But it turns out nobody really goes to McDonald’s for Campbell’s Soup in a small cup.
5 – Son of Mac • Everybody loves a Big Mac, so here’s
a slightly smaller version called a “Son of Mac” that removes one of the beef patties
and the bread in the middle.
• So yeah, McDonald’s really changed the game when they introduced…
the regular hamburger.
4 – Chopped Beefsteak Sandwich • Just try saying “McDonald’s Chopped
Beefsteak Sandwich” without gagging a little bit.
• This thing looks basically like the McRib, and was part of an attempt to introduce dinner-friendly
options to the menu.
Only instead of trying to taste like ribs, it was trying to taste like steak.
• Doubling up the fail, they paired this monstrosity with the also-doomed Onion Nuggets.
3 – McLean Deluxe • McDonald’s wants you to know that McDonald’s
cares about your dietary needs.
That’s why McDonald’s has introduced the McLean Deluxe.
• The McLean Deluxe is a low-calorie option to the usual hamburger that offers a beef
patty that is 91% fat free!
• That’s because we added water and seaweed extract to the beef!
Enjoy!
2 – Angus Burgers • Every so often, McDonald’s tries to
get classy and offer something upscale, because they forgot that they’re McDonald’s.
• McDonald’s Angus Burgers touted quality Angus beef at right around the time restaurants
were throwing “Angus” on everything they could find.
• They tried selling the burgers for about $4-5 each, but the taste was indistinguishable
from similar burgers on the dollar menu, so they never really took off and were discontinued
in 2013.
1 – The McLobster • The McLobster promised “100% Real North
Atlantic Lobster,” and that was probably true, as the offering only ever hit New England
and Eastern Canada.
• But regardless of whether the lobster was real or not, the general consensus is
that the sandwich was too expensive and didn’t actually taste like lobster.
• McDonald’s is actually trying this experiment again, as a “Lobster Roll” has been available
in some markets during the summers of 2015 and 2016, and has actually been received somewhat
positively.
At least they’re not calling it the “McLobster.”
What do YOU think was the worst McDonald’s product?
Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll pin our favourite to the top.