Tasty X Collabs
By Christopher Jordan Latiff
Ever thought your favorite artist was going to be selling quarter ponders and big mac’s with their brands on them? Well check it out, McDonalds has started partnering with celebrities again. McDonalds has launched and seen major success with their last two high profile collabs in 2020.
Colombian reggaeton legend J. Balvin and rapper/ad libber Travis Scott released signature meals for McDonalds earlier this year. The reasoning behind the recent McDonalds collabs with these two specific artists is nothing too surprising; building up a new consumer base in the young BIPOC population.
In a leaked memo acquired by Business Insider, reads that the corporation is “starting to lose our younger African-American and multicultural consumers” following this statement up “We need to make sure we are looking through the lens of our operators, our crew, and our people to better connect with African-American youth as we go forward”. All of this happening in the midst of a heavy legal unrest over allegations from former employees that McDonalds have been treating their black franchise owners unfairly.
It is the first time in history however that McDonalds and other fast food giants have gone into exclusive brand partnerships with influencers/musicians. Lets not forget the first major food collab that happened this year. Influencer Charli D'Amelio, who has made herself famous via her Tik Tok content, had the first of the recent influencer fast food collab with Dunkin Donuts. On Sept. 2nd of 2020, Dunkin Donuts launched “The Charli” drink. This collaboration was also resoundingly successful.
Travis Scott's signature sandwich “The Cactus Jack” meal was a modification of the classic Quarter Pounder meal. The meal as described by animated Travis Scott in the ad, McDonalds release is a “quarter pounder with lettuce, pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard and bacon (Ab lid: YEAH!).” The meal also comes with fries, barbecue sauce and a Sprite. Animated Travis then tells us “Same order as back in Houston, now you can try it too.” as he is referring to the times before all the fame. The Travis Scott meal was taken off the menu earlier this week on October 5th, 2020.
J.Balvin’s signature meal has the same nostalgic, pre-fame marketing element as well. The recent Oct. 5th drop date of the artists signature menu item came with tons of headlines.
Through an interview with HYPEBEAST, J. Balvin says “It was a huge part of my childhood and my day-to-day. McDonalds is just part of the culture, you know? I grew up with it and I’m proud to be the first Latino to have [an exclusive menu]. It’s really cool to represent a lot of ‘firsts’ for my people, like my Jordan collab, the Super Bowl show. I mean, it’s even Hispanic Heritage Month so the timing is [right].”
The J. Balvin meal recently hit the stores.
(J.Balvin | Instagram)
This product launch comes with J. Balvins rise to super reggaeton stardom. His last album “Colores” has been resoundingly successful this last year earning a number two spot in the latin american album charts as a follow up to his previous studio albums “OASIS” with mega star BADBUNNY and Vibras featuring a host of current talent like Rosalia, Zion & Lennox and Wisin & Yandel.
McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts have found a link that combines successful youth icons of their time, favorite orders and us. They are using a marketing platform that targets specific consumers with the mission of making us feel like our favorite star pulling up to the window. The Travis Scott collab was so successful that it led to a quarter pounder patty shortage! The J. Balvin meal has just recently hit the stores but history shows just how successful these promotions are. Especially in times where that industry has created massive growth while already being a leading industry in this country.
However, this is not the first time that McDonalds has launched celebrity collabs . McDonalds’ brand partnerships with public figures goes back to 1992. When a menu collab was done with athletes Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. The chain released two different commercials featuring both Jordans likeness and Larry Bird himself. They promoted the McJordan order and for Bird the order was nearly as much identical but it was named The Big 33. The Big 33 came with more sandwiches; the order had six cheeseburgers or three quarter pounders. I cannot say how successful these promotions are since I wasn't even born when these sandwiches were on the McDonalds’ menu.
In the interest of good reporting and an excuse to go to McDonalds on a beautiful day, I went and tried the J.Balvin meal. The food chain dropped the meal on Oct. 5th and on this day I drove up to my closest McDonalds’ location at 2806 Gallatin Pike, Nashville, TN and parked in the drive through line.
I pulled up to the intercom and was greeted with the very familiar yet almost impossible to hear “Hello welcome to McDonalds may I take your order?” I respond, “Hey! I'd like to order the new J. Balvin Meal?” and was immediately met with a “the what?” to which I said “The new J. Balvin meal! I see it here in the menu. I think it's a $6 big mac special ?” almost being cut off as the McDonalds employee remembered the menu item said “Ohh! Yeah! That’s that new big mac meal right? The Ice cream machine is down so we can’t give you the ice cream. We can give you the rest of the meal if you still want to order it.”
Sort of disappointed yet not surprised in the slightest and still super hungry, I agree to take the Big Mac meal with large fires and a Coca Cola to match. All in all, it was your classic McDonalds window experience. This was the very first time I got to experience The Big Mac combo though. Totally worth it by the way.
To tell you the real truth, I went and gambled to see if I would be lucky enough to go to a McDonalds store with a working soft serve machine. Upon my second arrival the employee on the intercom told me you have to download the app to get the ice cream drink substitute. I don’t have the app and wasn’t about to quickly sign up on the app at the window so I went with my usual order instead. In the end I didn’t have the full J. Balvin meal experience. I will say I did get to try something new and remember back to the day when I first discovered McDonalds as a child the first time I came to the U.S. for the first time.
As I am also a Colombian immigrant just like J. Balvin and millions of others. I really had the relatable moment of trying something undeniably American for the first time. Like I said, totally worth it on a taste standpoint. It is a feeling I have not had in a long time since traveling has not been very safe lately and since I've lived here in the U.S. the last ten years it's always refreshing experiencing something new no matter when or where.
McDonalds is promising its customers more menu collabs to come in the future with their new Famous Orders ad. From recent collabs to future ones, McDonalds looks to be ready to make a play for current pop culture and new consumers moving forward. We all wait to see what they come out with next and what happens for the fast food giant in the courts.
Christopher is a culture writer for La Tonique.