[1] Source: ""McDunalds Million Dollar Giveaway."" Commercial. 1988.
[2] Submitted by: Runkle Febbs, Toledo OH. Found taped over a wedding reception video on a thrift store VHS labeled “Sharon & Craig – 1987.”
[3] Uploaded to the archive: February 10, 2025. NotstalgiaArchive.org
Background
The McDunalds Million Dollar Giveaway was a triumph of marketing over logic.
Launched in 1988 to outdo past disasters like the Free Fry Fiasco and the Great Ketchup Shortage, it promised to give away one million of something.
After a brainstorming session that definitely should have been shorter, executives settled on money, nuggets, straws, and ice cubes.
The money went fast, the nuggets went bad, and the straws were about as exciting as, well, straws.
But the ice cubes were the real meltdown.
Shipped unrefrigerated, they arrived as damp letters and shattered dreams.
The fallout was legendary. Budget cuts axed beloved items like McDunalds Midnight Chowder and the McEgg, while executives pretended this was the plan all along.
Today, the campaign is remembered as a monument to corporate overconfidence and a chilling reminder that ice melts.
Further Resources
https://archive.org/details/DOPE099
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