The Grimace Shake Accidentally Created the Internet’s Funniest—and Most Horrifying—Viral Trend

There are few things in the world that are more familiar than McDonald’s famed golden arches. McDonald’s is a powerhouse in fast-food restaurants and has iconic menu item staples like Chicken McNuggets, the Big Mac and their fries. And while Mickey D’s 1980s fictional characters from McDonaldland aren’t as prevalent in McDonald’s marketing anymore, they still exist. After all, this month, McDonald’s is celebrating one of their oldest characters, Grimace, with a Grimace Birthday Meal. But, as is the possibility with any silly marketing campaign, the internet has run away with it and made it into a hilarious—yet horrifying—trend.

Firstly, the marketing for Grimace’s birthday celebration at McDonald’s has been expansive. On June 6, the official McDonald’s Twitter account shared a phone number that people could text in preparation for the meal drop on June 12. And there’s even an official nostalgic-themed Grimace’s Birthday game online.

But when you have a big, fluffy monster named Grimace with a new purple shake, things can get out of hand. Read on to find out the Grimace shake trend and if you should go near the berry dessert beverage.

Related: McDonald's Fans Are Up in Arms About Birthday Meal Prices

Who is McDonald's Grimace?

Just like Ronald McDonald was the iconic mascot for the fast-food chain, his co-stars made up the fun, fictional place called McDonaldland. And as stated before, Grimace was one of the main characters of McDonaldland. This was a media franchise that existed near the end of the 1970s but became a bigger hit in the ‘80s and consisted of books, cartoons and more.

Unlike other McDonaldland characters, Grimace’s character wasn’t an animal or human; he was a giant purple monster. He first came onto the scene as “Evil Grimace,” and was a main villain for our heroes in McDonaldland. However, he later became a friendly main character, which is why we’re even celebrating him anyway.

Over the years, though, Grimace went from being a monster to being the embodiment of a taste bud (weird, we know, but stick with us here). According to Today, he’s been described as a blob, but in 2014 the official McDonald’s Twitter account shared that he’s “the embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud.” Considering he used to steal people’s milkshakes when he was “Evil Grimace” and the fact that he might be a milkshake particle himself, it’s only fitting that he gets a special shake named after him for his birthday (since he was “born” into existence in 1972, that means he turned 51 on June 12).

What is a Grimace shake?

As for what’s in a Grimace shake, “Grimace syrup” is what gives the shake its light purple hue. Axios reported that the purple shake is berry-flavored, which is “inspired by Grimace’s iconic color and sweetness.”

It comes with the typical whipped cream all McDonald’s shakes have and starts at $3.39 for a small, $3.89 for a medium and $4.69 for a large.

What is the Grimace Shake trend?

Like we said before, when you have such a silly purple giant who is kind of known for being a bit of a bumbling monster, something named after him is going to get some laughs. Again, the marketing has been kind of silly as well, with Grimace’s face taking over McDonald’s Twitter account's profile photo and the official account tweeting out a promo image of Grimace slurping his cool new drink with shades in a rad ride. But no one expected the Grimace shake to produce one of the most out-of-pocket viral trends imaginable.

The Grimace shake trend has a pretty simple formula: You make a TikTok where you start out saying how excited you are to try the new Grimace shake, and then you wish him a big “Happy Birthday.” However, the video cuts to a grim scene that includes the user passed out with the shake next to them in some way. And, of course, the people on the internet have taken this to extremes, making TikToks that look like they came out of a horror movie. So, proceed with caution!

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Some of these videos are so creative and, honestly, bone-chillingly unsettling. Truly something out of an Ari Aster film, some of these videos have screams, contorted bodies and overall creepy vibes. But some of them also mimic an extremely hungover or sick reaction to the shake.

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McDonald’s has definitely seen the Grimace shake trend

The Grimace shake trend has truly blown up; as of June 28, the TikTok hashtag #grimaceshake had 650.5 million views. One Twitter user even shared what McDonald’s restaurants are like right now—allegedly, floods of teens are trying to get the shake to make one of these viral videos.

And even though this is a big deal for McDonald’s—and loads of free advertising—the horrifying aspect of most of these videos might be alarming to the chain. The point of the Grimace shake trend hinges on this idea that the shake is going to either possess you with the malevolent spirit of Grimace or it’s insinuating that the shake goes too hard and knocks you out like a night of binge drinking. Not super positive connotations around a new shake.

However, the folks at McDonald’s have chosen to take it in stride. While they can’t directly recreate the Grimace shake trend or speak on it, the official Twitter account did share a cheeky little peek into what the brand thinks of all of this.

So now you see why the Grimace shake trend has taken off so much; it’s edgy and haunting in a funny way. Now you can go and drink your Grimace shake in peace (but do so responsibly).

Next up, check out what McDonald's animal-style fries are and how to order them.