The Sad History of McDonald's Happy Meal

The McDonald's Happy Meal is like the Manhattan Project of marketing to children

Once the world saw kids lose their collective minds over that smiling little box and the surprise licensed toy inside

there was no putting the genie back in the bottle. But how did one of the most famous parent traps ever created come to be

And how has it changed over the years? This is a McDonald's Happy Meal. Your kids will love it. It's food and fun in a box

Games, puzzles, jokes, and a prize. A prize? Get yourself ready for a trip through McDonald's land

Today on Weird History Food, we're serving up the kid-sized history of the Happy Meal

Okay, let's get happy. Happy, happy, happy. I wonder what time it is

It's time for a Happy Meal at McDonald's. In 1974, Yolanda Fernandez de Cofinho, also known as Doña Yoli

opened Guatemala's first-ever McDonald's franchise location alongside her husband, Jose. Being a mother herself, Doña Yoli noticed that McDonald's had no reasonably-sized options for small children

and three-, four-, and five-year-olds were being made to eat the same big meals as their adult counterparts

Giving a toddler a Big Mac is asking them to grow up real fast

This nine-layer gastronomic indulgence is known as a Big Mac. What's more, getting young kids to make even the simplest decision can be a near impossible task

And the wee ones were often overwhelmed when it came time to order. So Donya Yoli decided to make her very own child-friendly option that had both smaller portion sizes and fewer choices

She introduced to her restaurant the Menu Ronald, a kid-friendly option that came with a burger, a small fry, and a sundae

It was an instant hit, and McD's corporate in Chicago took notice

Though it may be hard to imagine a time when kids wouldn't throw their favorite Marvel superhero

in front of a train for a trip to Mickey D's, McDonald's had been losing steam among families and children for years

The clown alone was no longer enough to lure them in. Mom told me never to talk to strangers

Well, your mother's right as always, but I'm Ronald McDonald. The now defunct burger chef, with its endless supply of free toys, and the immortal Burger King

Seriously, how long has that guy been on the throne? Had both made major moves to tear families out from Ronald's clutches

What's more, McDonald's had redesigned many of its restaurants away from the old white and red tile interiors

and renovated them with brick walls. You know, like school. Kids love school

They were no longer as vibrant and welcoming as they once were, and kids took notice

McDonald's needed to pivot hard if they wanted to stay relevant in the family market

and Bob Bernstein was just the man for the job. Bernstein's ad agency had managed the company's marketing in several cities for over a decade

He'd already tried handing out free stuff to kids before, such as the Happy Cup and the Sippy Dipper Straw

but even the cutest McDonald's pencil puppet couldn't bring in the Rugrats

One day, while sitting at the breakfast table with his son, Bernstein had an epiphany

Cereal companies had been stuffing toy prizes within their boxes for decades and he noticed that kids would absolutely flip their wigs over even the smallest surprise These boxes often featured games puzzles and jokes on their side panels If McDonald could somehow capture the wonder of the cereal box

and sell it to their pint-sized customers, the company's woes would go the way of Birdie the Early Bird

meaning they were turned into chicken nuggets. In 1977, by combining Dona Yoli's child-sized combo meals with Bernstein's cereal box-inspired concept

the Happy Meal made its U.S. debut. Its name was a reference to a 1960s McDonald's jingle that called the restaurant a happy place

McDonald's is our kind of place. It's such a happy place. McDonald's is our kind of place

It was initially introduced only regionally, for McDonald's franchise locations in Kansas City, Denver, and Phoenix

Man, Phoenix gets all the good stuff. Its first iteration featured a regular-sized burger, fries

Keebler cookie, a soda, and a Cracker Jack toy. The box the food came in also featured several exterior panels

with games, puzzles, and jokes, just like those featured on the exterior of cereal boxes

Or should that be exterior boxes? The kids loved it, but the McDonald's corporate heads and franchise owners alike remained skeptical

They tested it out in regional markets for two more years before finally giving it the green light

And Happy Meals at last wound up in restaurants across the U.S. in 1979, just in time for a tie-in with Ridley Scott's Alien

Oh, turns out they skipped that one. Are you sorry, sir, that you brought your son along to see Alien

No, ma'am. I think he should have seen it. It's something that you need to know that things like that could happen in life

That could be a true story. Those first Happy Meals cost $1.10 a pop, and each contained a toy surprise

Kids never knew what toy they were going to get, making the Happy Meal the perfect gateway to a future gambling addiction

The initial prizes included the McDoodle stencil, spinning tops, and McDonald's-themed erasers

Wish we could have seen those kids' faces light up when they got their erasers

Later that same year, the Happy Meal put forward its first-ever movie tie-in

featuring a Klingon commercial for Star Trek The Motion Picture, along with a Star Trek-themed Happy Meal box

Despite its immediate popularity among families and kids, and thus its growing popularity with the corporate office

many franchise owners remained skeptical. Thus, while the corporate heads were busy giving Dona Yoli the 1982 Ronald Award for her idea

her second Ronald Award, following her 1980 award for being the first franchisee to host

children's birthday parties, many franchise owners refused to sell Happy Meals at their

own locations. They felt that constructing the Happy Meal boxes added too much to the already

busy workloads of their employees, and the toys took up too much valuable storage space within

their restaurants. Likewise, the Happy Meal came and went from individual locations for its first

couple years on the market. And it wasn't until 1984, when McDonald's introduced the chicken nugget, that the Happy

Meal became a mainstay in locations across the nation. McDonald slowly phased out Bob Bernstein idea of putting games puzzles and jokes on the box exteriors And they instead focused on upping their prize game by collaborating with movie studios and popular toy brands

In the process, they made some of the most memorable choking hazards of the last 40 years, like their 1982 partnership

with Playmobil. McDonald's ordered 30 million Playmobil figures to give away with their Happy Meals

distributing 10 million of which after just one week. The figures were too small and thin, though

and they were quickly found by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be hazardous for children under three

McDonald's issued an immediate voluntary recall, and they offered to trade free cookies or ice cream in exchange for the bloodthirsty figures

Not a bad deal if you prefer eating sugar over plastic. In 1983, McDonald's got back on track with a partnership with Mattel

They made officially branded Hot Wheels for their Happy Meals, along with the Barbie Loves McDonald's playset for toy stores across the country

Bobby loves McDonald's. Did I have a Big Mac to go? Yeah

The rest of the 80s saw media tie-ins with Ghostbusters, the Berenstain Bears, Muppet Babies, My Little Pony, and the Little Mermaid

They also had food changeables, which were basically just Transformers that turned into McDonald's foods

rather than high-speed vehicles. Apparently, the war for Cybertron was decided by fries and a Coke

McNugget Buddies, vague Mr. Potato Head knockoffs but in nugget form and Jungle Book wind-ups

which closed out the decade with walking versions of Ka, Shere Khan and King Louie

Where do the stars of Sega Sonic 3 go when the game's over? Sonic

Are you guys in there? Hey, here's a hint. They're at McDonald's. The 90s kicked things off with a Super Mario Bros. 3 partnership

which put plastic Marios, Luigis, Goombas and Koopas in households everywhere. right alongside all the Nintendos that had recently arrived to destroy everyone's reading comprehension

These were then shortly followed by two separate DC comic tie-ins, one of which was considerably better received than the other

Toys featuring Looney Tunes characters in classic DC superhero costumes debuted in 1991

in case you ever wanted to see Bugs and Daffy juiced up like a pair of South Florida bouncers

One year later, the Golden Arches released what should have been a golden tie-in

with the 1992 blockbuster Batman Returns, a movie that is very much not for kids

It was very violent. It was a total attack against kids, the whole movie

Parents and Christian groups argued that the film's violent content shouldn't be promoted with toys

intended for pushing the film's graphic content on young children. And McDonald's actually canceled the promotion

The rest of the decade was pretty smooth sailing for the hamburger chain as they landed even more media tie-ins

for their Happy Meals, including Spider-Man, Power Rangers, Pocahontas, The Lion King, and Mulan

They also had major partnerships with some of the country's biggest toy brands

like Barbie, Furby, and Tamagotchi. Remember two of those? Still, all of these partnerships

pale in comparison to what may still be the biggest Happy Meal toy ever, the Teeny Beanie's

Beanie Baby. The following is in code to avoid panic in the streets. Beanie Tay, Eeny Bay

Abbey's Bay or Ac Bay at McDonald May First released in 1997 during the height of the Beanie Baby craze the original Teenie Beanies lineup was so coveted that McDonald had over 100 million of the little critters made And if you thinking that should have been plenty you do not remember

the year 1997. Customers bought up armloads of Happy Meals, but told the cashiers to hold the

food. They only wanted the toys. Restaurants in major cities and across the Midwest quickly sold

out, and fistfights and brawls broke out in franchises across the nation

There were even reports of McDonald's delivery men being assaulted as they tried to restock restaurants

As a result, kids were often left toiless, while the adults around them racked up dozens

of teeny beanies in hopes of an early retirement. For each of the three years that followed, McDonald's came out with an all-new exclusive

lineup of teeny beanies. But they were never again able to repeat the fervor of that first teeny beanie spring

which is probably for the best. In the new millennium, people have started to question

McDonald's practice of targeting children, and many have accused the Happy Meals of being an unethical attempt

to entice kids and undermine parents. After all, your parents don't love you like Spongebob toys do

Boy, they, uh, made a lot of those. As concerns mounted over both America's ever-increasing obesity epidemic

and its love affair with generating plastic waste, these accusations only grew louder

By the mid-2000s, it seemed that everyone, from parental groups to governmental bodies

across the globe, had had enough of the clown. Even Disney turned its back on the Golden Arches in 2006

and the two went over a decade without collaborating on any new promotions

Like Roxette said, it must have been love. But it's over now, for a little while

Facing this pressure to change, McDonald's decided to take the issue head on

and has spent the past 15 years attempting to address these concerns

While the Happy Meal does still come with a toy, the toy is now often made of 3D paper or recycled plastic

What's more, McDonald's has pledged to reduce fossil fuel-based plastic usage 90% company-wide by 2025

Check back on this video in two years and let us know how they did. All the while, the company has cut both soft drinks

and cheeseburgers from Happy Meals, replacing the former with a choice of milk, water, or juice

and the latter with plain hamburgers. Fellas, it's called a Happy Meal, not a sad meal

They've also shrunk the size of the kids' fries and have added apple slices to all Happy Meal orders

reducing the caloric value of the Happy Meal by 20% of the process. Today, almost one in four orders of McDonald's contains a Happy Meal

and about 4 million Happy Meals are sold in more than 100 countries every day

That amounts to over 1 billion Happy Meals sold per year. or one billion tiny little toys that will clutter up kids' rooms the world over

Most recently, playing on millennial nostalgia for childhood materialism, McDonald's tried its hand at making Happy Meals for adults

They partnered up with lifestyle brand Cactus Plant Flea Market to make the all-new combo

which was basically just a boxed version of the Big Mac meal or 10-piece McNugget meal

but with a creepy little four-eyed statue to show off at work. 40 year old Happy Meal kids lost their ever loving minds for these toys

proving once and for all that no matter how old you get

you're never too old to get into a fist fight over Beanie Babies