Roy Bergold, the former chief creative officer at McDonald's, shared an interesting anecdote in a recent column at QSR Magazine.
It's about Grimace — one of McDonald's mascots.
The big purple blob wasn't always lovable. In fact, the original iteration was terrifying.
The character was called Evil Grimace, and he had an obsession with stealing milkshakes. Instead of luring kids into stores, Evil Grimace scared them away.
Fortunately, the marketing crew at McDonald's quickly realized their mistake and tweaked the character into what he is today.
Bergold writes:
"There have been characters created as mascots for quick-serve companies that admittedly scare little kids. We inadvertently created one at McDonald’s and had to make some quick changes to correct our mistake.
The original Grimace was scaly, mean-looking, had four arms, and had no charm whatsoever. He scared kids. We changed him to a soft, plush, two-armed blob of a sweetheart who only wanted McDonald’s milkshakes and to hang out with Ronald."
Here's the Grimace we all know, for comparison:
