Grimace’s uncle returns to promote the Shamrock Shake

St. Paddy’s Day must be around the corner: The Shamrock Shake is back. The minty green shake, a seasonal staple for 50+ years, is now available at McDonald’s locations nationwide (through at least March 23), with $0.25 donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities for each shake sold.

Fun fact: Proceeds from Shamrock Shake sales helped fund the very first Ronald McDonald House, which was built in Philadelphia in 1974.

Green promoting green to make green

The Shamrock Shake isn’t the only green face making a McDonald’s reappearance. Grimace’s Irish uncle from Sham Rock, Uncle O’Grimacey, is back to help out with marketing the green drink after decades out of the spotlight.

• McDonald’s originally created Uncle O’Grimacey in 1975 to promote the Shamrock Shake.
• But he hasn’t been seen since the mid-1980s, after being phased out due to having "controversial ties to the [Irish Republican Army]," according to a 2017 PhillyVoice article (though no other evidence of this exists).

With the resurrection move, the fast-food chain is trying to recapture some of the magic Grimace brought to TikTok, the New York Mets, and its bottom line. The purple monster’s birthday meal helped McDonald’s quarterly US same-store sales climb 10+% in the spring of 2023, and sparked the company’s increasing use of retro mascots in its marketing promotions.

📅 Mark the cal: McDonald’s is scheduled to report quarterly earnings today – its first since the CDC linked its Quarter Pounders to a fatal E. coli outbreak in October.