Evil Grimace

October 17th, 2007 by Mike

This came up a few years back (can’t remember if I posted it) but I called someone at the office Grimace today and that led to a discussion of the origins of Grimace. Back when he debuted in 1971 he was actually referred to as “Evil Grimace,” was to shakes as Hamburglar is to hamburgers, and sported 4 to 6 arms.

Evil Grimace
Evil Grimace

I want read/see the origin story of the “Evil Grimace.” I want to know how he found redemption and became Ronald McDonald’s Robin.

Apparently the young girl in this commercial is Jodie Foster. She totally sells her “No Shakes…” line. I get sad contemplating the lack of shakes in McDonald Land.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Advertising, Brands, Identity, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Evil Grimace”

  1. Luke Says:
    October 17th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    This was more satisfying than foster’s performance in Maverick.

  2. top dog Says:
    October 17th, 2007 at 2:14 pm

    interesting connection between the “special delivery” line here and Mr Rogers’ mail delivery — i wonder if they were around the same time?

  3. Damon Says:
    October 17th, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    I’d never heard Ronald talk before. It’s a little creepy.

    In high school, a friend had a mom who faintly resembled Grimace, and that was how we always referred to her when she wasn’t around. Teenage boys aren’t the nicest, I guess.

  4. Mike Says:
    October 17th, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    Ronald and Grimace sound nearly identical to me in these spots. I cracked up when Grimace said he was “Thoisty!” in a way that sound anything but grimacing…

  5. C-MONSTER.net » Blog Archive » The Digest. Says:
    November 19th, 2007 at 11:02 am

    [...] moment of magical realism: singing hamburger edition. Posted by [...]

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