McDonald’s is bringing back one of its iconic seasonal milkshakes and an equally iconic McDonaldland character.
The fast-food chain announced Tuesday that it’s reviving the Shamrock Shake in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day. To help promote the drink, McDonald’s is recruiting Uncle O’Grimacey, Grimace’s Irish uncle who hasn’t made a public appearance in over 40 years. Uncle O’Grimacey was first introduced by the chain in 1975 to promote the then-newly released Shamrock Shake. This time around, he’s coming out of retirement to reunite with his nephew “for the first time in decades,” according to McDonald’s.
“This Shamrock Season celebration came to life when Grimace stumbled upon his family’s original Shamrock Shake recipe,” McDonald’s wrote in a press release obtained by TODAY. “That discovery sparked Grimace to reconnect with his vibrant, joyful, and generous uncle, Uncle O’Grimacey.”
Both Grimace and Uncle O’Grimacey are anthropomorphic characters but unlike his nephew, Uncle O’Grimacey is green in color and sports a top hat. A McDonald’s spokesperson told Fast Company that Uncle O’Grimacey “resides on a small island off the coast of Ireland called Sham Rock. Back home in Sham Rock, Uncle O’Grimacey spends his time going on nature walks, bowling in his local league, and attending the Sham Rock Street Fair and Music Festival (he plays the bagpipe!).” His favorite color is green (unsurprisingly), his nickname is "Uncle O" and he’s a Pisces.
During his heyday in the ‘70s, Uncle O’Grimacey was featured in several old-timey adverts for the Shamrock Shake, including one alongside his nephew and Ronald McDonald. After about a decade of doing promotions, Uncle O’Grimacey took a step away from the McDonald’s spotlight in the mid-1980s. Rumor has it that the character’s disappearance took place after an actor playing the mascot in Philadelphia made comments in support of the Irish Revolutionary Army (IRA). However, there’s no evidence to support that claim. The most logical explanation is that Uncle O’Grimacey, along with other popular McDonaldland characters (like Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Birdie the Early Bird, and Captain Crook), was given the boot when McDonald’s rebranded its restaurants in the '90s.
Despite his hiatus, the green, furry icon was never forgotten. Uncle O’Grimacey earned his own merch line, called the Uncle O'Grimacey collection, which includes Shamrock Season pins, a crewneck and, even, a plain white tee that says “Who’s your uncle?” alongside an image of the uncle himself.
Uncle O’Grimacey’s return comes after McDonald’s released the Grimace Birthday Meal in June 2023. The meal comes with the choice of a Big Mac, 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, fries and a berry-flavored milkshake called the Grimace Shake. Inspired by Grimace’s purple hue and love for purple beverages, the shake went viral on TikTok with the macabre #GrimaceShake trend. Though the milkshake and Grimace garnered much online vitriol, the increased exposure helped boost McDonald's summer sales. According to the fast food giant’s quarterly earnings report at the time, net sales were up 14% and net income increased to $2.31 billion, compared with $1.19 billion in 2022.
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The return of the Shamrock Shake and Uncle O’Grimacey could help McDonald's improve traffic to its restaurants and boost its sales, CNBC reported. The milkshake will be back at restaurants on Feb. 10., which is the same day that McDonald's is expected to report its fourth-quarter results. McDonald’s sales have recently taken a major hit after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) traced the chain’s Quarter Pounder burgers to a deadly E. coli outbreak. The burgers were temporarily removed from some locations before they made a comeback, albeit without slivered onions. Quarter Pounders without onions returned to restaurants in Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming. The menu item also returned to restaurants in parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
This year, McDonald's Shamrock Shake will celebrate the 50th year of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). McDonald’s franchisees will donate 25 cents to RMHC for every Shamrock Shake purchased from Feb. 10 to March 23.
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