Fruit Of The Month - #3: McDonald's Maine Blueberries

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for July 2010. (Sorry I missed June!)

The month we're going back to the late 1990s to enjoy these fine little Maine Wild Blueberry mascots from McDonald's. This is a promotional button worn by employees of McDonald's in Maine during blueberry season.

I'm told that they offered Maine blueberry pies and blueberry pancakes -- and possibly other items. This came to me from a lady who worked there at the time. Sounds delicious!

See you back here in August with the next Fruit Of The Month!

St. Patrick's Day at McDonald's

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's an old coupon card from a Kansas McDonald's restaurant in 1976. You could punch out the shamrock to wear and cash in the coupon for some free McDonaldland Cookies.

The happy little leprechaun seems to be enjoying a Shamrock Shake, while ready to smoke that pipe in his other hand.

Saturday Commercial Break #14: McDonald's 1970s

I hadn't posted any of my Saturday Commercial Breaks in a while. I sort of stopped it after noticing that YouTube was removing a lot of television commercials from their site for some reason. Apparently that's not the content they want, although it's really the only thing I care about on YouTube. Anyway, I'll start it up again "while supplies last", as they say.

I got a big smile watching this 1970s McDonald's commercial, featuring a fun song and dance number by some hard working fast food employees. "You Deserve A Break Today" remains one of the most memorable McDonald's jingles for me. (Uploaded to YouTube by JMReid1220)

Saturday Commercial Break #11: McDonald's

This week's commercial pick is a Wild West themed trip for the McDonaldLand friends. Ronald McDonald, Mayor McCheese, Captain Crook and the Hamburglar star in this one from 1976.

This was uploaded to YouTube by Namzso1.

I've always been a big fan of 1970s McDonaldLand. Feel free to post a comment with your memories from this era.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2008

On behalf of my pal Uncle O'Grimacey and myself, we'd like to wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a vintage plastic cup from the 1970s. These were given away in McDonald's around St. Patrick's Day when they were serving up Shamrock Shakes.

The beloved Uncle O'Grimacey, pictured here, was the Irish uncle of Grimace, and he would usher in the Shamrock Shakes season with all the pomp and circumstance that one would expect around McDonaldLand.

If you can still get Shamrock Shakes in your area, or if you've spotted Uncle O'Grimacey, let me know!

McDonald's Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate the day, I thought I'd share some old Valentines. McDonald's used to give these away over several years in the 1970s. Here are four Valentines from 1974 (or maybe 1973), making this the earliest set that I've found.

Here we have:

• Ronald McDonald
• Captain Crook
• Officer Big Mac
  
• Evil Grimace

In the early days of McDonaldLand, Captain Crook had green hair, as shown on this card. Shortly afterwards the green hair was cut to make him look more like an average pirate that you'd see on the street back then.

Also of note is the Evil Grimace. Our furry friend Grimace used to have four arms and was originally a bad guy called the "Evil Grimace". This is one of the last promotions that I've found with the four-armed version. After this, they dropped the "Evil" from his name, dropped two of the arms and made him into the more friendly-looking Grimace that most of us know.

Here are the cards. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Uncle O'Grimacey wishes you all a very Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy a Shamrock Shake today in honor of our furry green friend.