Grimace

Grimace is a character featured in McDonaldland commercials and is Ronald McDonald’s best friend.

Name: Grimace

Origin: McDonaldland (November 1971)

Race: Grimace

Gender: Male

Age: 52

Created by: McDonald's

Grimace is a large, purple, rotund being of indeterminate species with short arms and legs, known for his slow-witted yet optimistic demeanor. He sometimes goes for long periods without speaking, but when he does, he is known for saying "duh" before every sentence.

Introduced in November 1971 as the "Evil Grimace," he initially had two pairs of arms used to steal milkshakes and Cokes. The "Evil" was soon dropped from his name, and in 1972, he was reintroduced as a protagonist with only one set of arms, becoming a clumsy but amiable monster. His exact nature has been disputed: in a 2010 interview, a McDonald's spokesperson said that Grimace was a taste bud, and a 2014 Tweet from the McDonald's Twitter account stated, "Grimace lore says he is the embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud." In 2021, Brian Bates, a franchisee in Canada, stated that Grimace is an anthropomorphic taste bud. However, Lillian Stone, writing in The Takeout, disputed this, pointing to other material that established Grimace as part of a species, including his Uncle O'Grimacey, who promoted the Shamrock Shake.

For a number of years, Grimace vanished from public life, appearing only in Malaysian Happy Meal toys. His first public appearance after his 2012 disappearance was at the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade alongside Ronald McDonald. Grimace also appeared in a parody cryptocurrency tweet on Twitter by McDonald's known as "Grimace-Coin" and in a 2022 Super Bowl commercial.

To celebrate the 51st anniversary of Grimace's inception, McDonald's ran a promotion On June 6, 2023, Grimace took over the McDonald's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok accounts to announce a birthday celebration beginning on June 12. The birthday celebration included a limited-edition Grimace-inspired purple shake (which became an Internet meme on social media platforms) and merchandise, a browser game, and a charity campaign for the Ronald McDonald House. On June 12, 2024, Grimace threw the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Mets game, who were struggling at the time. After his appearance, the Mets went on a seven-game winning streak, and Grimace was embraced by the team's fans.

Modern commercials and merchandise portray Grimace as a well-meaning simpleton whose clumsy antics provide a comic foil to Ronald McDonald. He was retained after the streamlining of the characters in the 1980s and remained one of the few members until the end of the McDonaldland commercials. In the early days, Grimace was used to advertise the Happy Meal.

Trivia

• Though Grimace is canonically male, he has been portrayed by women: first by Patti Saunders, then by Terry Castillo.
• The current voice of Grimace is voice actor Daniel Ross, who has also voiced Donald Duck, among other characters.
• It has neither been confirmed nor denied that Gritty, the NHL mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, is the same species as Grimace.
• He might have a crush on Birdie.
• He almost resembles Mr. Munch from Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza.
• Grimace's species is a bit undetermined. Originally, he was conceived as the physical manifestation of a milkshake headache. However, The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald claims his species is also named "Grimace." Another argument is that he is an anthropomorphic taste bud.