Happy Meal

I arrived at the McDonald's around noon, and it was very crowded. · Once I clicked on it, I was asked if I wanted the Big Mac or the 10-piece chicken McNuggets.

I guess the only reason someone would want to get this would be to collect the toys, but other than that, I don't really see the appeal for this. I was actually a little surprised at how packed it was. I arrived at the McDonald's around noon, and it was very crowded. Oh, and a toy, of course. For $13, it's not worth it. McDonald's teamed up with the brand Cactus Plant Flea Market and made a squad of four-eyed collectible items.

This month's launch of McDonald's newest menu item, the Cactus Plant Flea Market Box, marks the culmination of a yearslong effort by the hamburger chain to ...

“Everyone remembers their first Happy Meal as a kid,” the company's release intones, summarily dismissing the existence of childhood pre-1979, when McDonald’s first sent its bliss boxes into the world, a gentler age when all Americans had to deal with were the Three Mile Island meltdown and hostage-taking in Iran. Cactus Plant Flea Market, if you’re wondering, is a streetwear brand and the brainchild of Brooklyn designer Cynthia Lu, formerly Pharrell Williams’ stylist, the musician having become her champion, i.e., “Happy” meal ticket. He smiles but with the face of a skillet of fried eggs for the whole family. A voice that prescribes not a little red pill but a little red box where a big grimace awaits. That said, both the box and its four toy characters have proved wildly popular (someone on eBay is offering $24.99 for my Grimace, not that I’d ever part with it). This month’s launch of McDonald’s newest menu item, the Cactus Plant Flea Market Box, marks the culmination of a yearslong effort by the hamburger chain to produce an adult Happy Meal, or as I’ve come to think of it, a Meal of Deep and Unrelenting Sadness. In saying this, I do not dispute the company’s stance that adulting is hard, or that threats like inflation, the end of democracy and/or armageddon might stir misty-eyed longing for days gone by, when, as McD’s puts it in a news release, “that little red box could turn a regular Tuesday into the best. In my neighborhood, the boxes were $11.29 (10-piece McNuggets) and $12.49 (Big Mac), both with fries and drink, which is two-plus bucks more than the combos cost alone. Yes, you counter, but adult Happy Meal boxes, with their festive, asymmetric typography, are bigger than the kids’ — think hotels to houses in Monopoly — thereby setting the stage for a much larger toy. Staring at that slow, sweet, purple yam of a creature from my youth, I instantly felt the years melt away. Before getting in line for Mickey D’s nostalgia ride, however, be advised that it can make for a rather pricey Tuesday, if not exactly the biggest. Continuing to stare, however, I noticed that the decades had been less than kind to him.

The fast food giant has fed into Happy Meal nostalgia, while also connecting to Gen Z streetwear culture.

And what we have really loved is seeing just the interaction with our brand as we put our brand in culture.” McDonald’s declined to release sales figures. 3, appear to be a major hit.

Within just days of being released, McDonald's Adult Happy Meals have sold out in some El Paso locations.

Whoever is in the marketing department of Mcdonalds is a genius because the second I heard about these adult happy meals, I was sold. October 18th you’ll have a chance at grabbing McDonald’s classic Boo Buckets! Because there’s nothing like feeling like a kid again even at the age of 34.

Here's a look at the fast food giant's strategy for the Cactus Plant Flea Market Box, which feeds into Happy Meal nostalgia while connecting to Gen Z ...