McDonald’s rolled out a new mascot for their Happy Meals. This new creation has animated arms, legs and one big mouth on the outside of a traditional red and yellow Happy Meal box. In addition to the animated character, the actual box a Happy Meal comes in will be designed to look like this … thing.
Via Reddit, here’s a great example of what the new packaging looks like:
Those eyes. That mouth. It’s really not surprising that some people claim this new design is nightmare fuel, especially since it’s targeting children. This … box … goes by the name of Happy. We could think of some more appropriate names (Crazy, Scary, Freaky), but Happy was rolled out to show children that Happy Meals are fun and now contain a few new items (fruit, vegetables, juice, etc).
Is the new look really that awful? Not really, especially when you consider that Ronald McDonald is still lingering, but it’s definitely an interesting change. An animated character appearing in ads would make a lot of sense, but the packaging here is so over the top and so easy to pick apart that you really have to wonder how any group of marketers thought it was a good idea.
