Milkshake lovers and baseball fans had a lot of fun with the purple McDonald’s mascot last year, but nobody seemed to know what Grimace was supposed to be… until now
When the New York Mets return to action in Citi Field next week, they will be hoping the ‘Grimace effect’ will continue into the new Major League Baseball season.
The purple McDonald’s mascot, who first featured in a tv commercial in 1971, became a viral sensation after seemingly inspiring a stunning turnaround in the team’s fortunes.
The Mets were one of the worst teams in the sport when he bumbled on to their mound last June to throw a ceremonial first pitch, sparking a seven game winning streak.
Since that magical moment, the Mets went on to make the play-offs for the first time in 10 years, with many fans putting their purple patch down to the impact of their adopted mascot.
As they progressed in the off-season, Grimace-mania reached fever pitch and he event made an appearance on the city’s subway on the way to a game.
The loveable character also went viral in the UK when McDonald’s launched the Grimace Shake, a berry-flavoured, purple milkshake, which was available for a week last August.
It sparked a social media trend where users recorded themselves wishing Grimace a happy birthday while drinking the shake before cutting to themselves being covered in the liquid in unusual locations resembling crime scenes.
But throughout all the viral milkshake fun and sporting miracles, one question lingered: Just what the bloody hell is Grimace?
The large, purple blobby-type creature is one of the characters from the McDonald’s universe, along with Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar and Ronald McDonald, who we previously told had rarely been for the last decade.
The fast food giant has never officially confirmed what creature Grimace was, but many fans believed he was an aubergine due to his odd shape and colour.
But aubergine’s aren’t exactly a prominent part of the McDonald’s menu, so your Daily Star has done some digging and discovered he’s supposed to be a taste bud.
A Canadian McDonald’s manager called Brian Bates went on the record during an interview with CBC after winning Outstanding Manager of the Year and confirmed: “He is an enormous taste bud, but a taste bud nonetheless.”
The purpose of Grimace is to show that the food tastes good, but the revelation stunned internet users. Star Trek star George Takei tweeted: “Oh dear. Did you know what Grimace was, friends?”
And not everyone was convinced. One user wrote: “I don’t get the purple part. Is this so called ‘tastebud’ lacking oxygen? Why is it purple not pink? I don’t believe it.
“Grimace was just some purple creature that liked milkshakes. This was the age of H. R. Pufnstuf. We didn’t question what things were, we just bought it.”
But one user suggested: “Grimace is purple because all the milkshakes he’s drank have lowered his body temperature so low. It also explains his low intelligence… brain freeze.”
Last week, we asked readers which McDonald’s character they would bring back and only 11% chose Grimace, whereas 44% opted for Hamburglar and Ronald McDonald.
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