McDonald’s may have fallen a bit short of its public relations mark with its newest Happy Meal toy mascot offering — a toothy, big-mouthed, bulging-eyed boxed figure that may be named Happy, but appears more like it’s growling, “Come here.”
And social media users were quick to point out Happy’s intimidation factors, CNN reported.
First, McDonald’s tweeted out a message that contained a photo of Happy and the text, “Say hello to our newest friend, Happy!” Then, within hours, the Twitter world did.
One wrote: “THAT! is scary!”
Another: “HE WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! RUN!”
And then this: “Happy — it’s the meal that eats you.”
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And one more: “’Happy’ looks happy [because] he just finished off a family of six #RIP #HappyMeal.”
The social media smirk got so bad that McDonald’s was forced to issue a response.
“we are not un-happy about” the feedback from the new character, said Julie Wenger, senior director of U.S. marketing for McDonald’s, in CNN. “Happy is not for everyone. He’s about having fun. Really for kids and families. Happy is promoting healthy choices through fun and lightheartedness.”
But that hardly stopped the twitter.
Another tweeted: “In order to fight obesity in kids, McDonald’s introduces its new mascot to scare children,” CNN reported. And one more: “Congrats #McDonalds, first you fatten our kids then you haunt their nightmares.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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