Top 10 Failed McDonalds Products

Top 10 Failed McDonalds Products

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Tonight’s menu features a variety of McFails, with a side order of poor marketing choices. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Failed McDonald’s Products. For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the most unsuccessful menu items that the fast food restaurant chain has offered throughout its existence. However, we’re excluding any failed non-food products the company may have developed.  

McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish can be a hit or miss item with most consumers, but at least it’s reminiscent of the familiar frozen fish sticks most people ate as kids. That being said, it seems most clients would prefer that McDonald’s stay away from seafood. The strange concoction called the McGratin Croquette feels like the end result of a Chopped basket of secret ingredients gone wrong. The “gurakoro”, as it’s known in Japan, consists of ground shrimp, mashed potatoes and deep-fried macaroni - all mushed together into a patty. Smother it in mystery brown sauce, and you’ve got yourself a culinary misadventure. It was designed “specifically” for Japanese markets. But guess what? Japan was NOT interested. Apparently the odd marketing didn’t help either.  

More like “mighty unpopular”. According to most reviewers and consumers, there was nothing spectacularly bad about these wings, they were just… unremarkable. McDonald’s is a juggernaut in the fast food world, and every so often they try to branch out to corner another end of the market. But with so many “tried-and-true” choices out there for delicious chicken wings, you can’t blame consumers for continuing to take their business elsewhere on game night. Sales numbers were so poor that McDonald’s lowered the price from an average of $1 per wing to 60 cents. This was allegedly done in order to liquidate the 10 million surplus wings they had left in stock when it became clear that the product had flopped.   

The late ‘70s were an exciting period of innovation in American pop culture history. Steve Jobs founded Apple Computers, Garfield the cat made his comic strip debut, Sony introduced the first Walkman and Space Invaders was released. McDonald’s, not wanting to be left out, prepared to unveil the chopped beefsteak sandwich, and for the most part, it was deemed “delicious”.  Unfortunately, as is so often the case with groundbreaking new products, it reportedly priced itself out of reach of the average consumer, apparently ringing up at $1.29 to the regular burger’s 40 cents. Many “fast foodies” lucky enough to try it in the early ‘80s remember it as one of the greatest sandwiches to ever touch their palates. But... the steep price made it too hard to swallow, even after McDonald’s tried throwing in a free dessert.

Hot dogs or hamburgers? That’s the question most commonly asked at a summer barbecue. So don’t hot dogs seem like a guaranteed success for any major fast food franchise? Well, Mickey D’s and hot dogs have a long and complicated history. In fact, the McDonald’s Corporation founder, Ray Kroc, banned hot dogs from his restaurants, because there’s no way to know what’s inside them. Following his death in 1984 however, a number of attempts have been made to introduce hot dogs in one form or another to the McDonald’s menu in select North American and UK markets. But time and time again, they just fail to catch on. There’s even been an attempt to market a Chili McHotdog in Japan. Oh the horror...  

Two words that don’t add up: “McDonald’s” and “sophisticated”. Two other words tough to pair in a sentence? “McDonald’s” and “healthy”. The Deluxe line aimed to corner the adult fast food market by presenting an entire line of sophisticated McDonald’s products, including this supposedly healthy, low fat burger. It achieved the lower fat content by using about 90% lean beef in its patties and adding water to replace the missing fat. But how would they bind it all together? Seaweed to the rescue. Carrageenan, a seaweed extract, is a common thickening/binding agent used in the processed food industry. Mouth not watering yet? This dry burger was deemed to be lacking flavor despite flavor additives, and thus earned itself the nickname “McFlopper”.

It’s hard to believe that anyone at McDonald’s had faith in this product. Don’t people go out for fast food because they DON’T feel like having spaghetti for the third time that week? McDonald’s tried it in Italy, and unsurprisingly, it bombed. Nothing sells quite like a country’s most cherished and widely available dish, as poorly prepared by an American fast food chain. America was equally disinterested.  It took too long to prepare, lacked flavor and simply couldn’t satisfy the cravings that drive people to McDonald’s in the first place - they wanted fast food! The weirdest thing about McSpaghetti though? It was a surprise hit in the Philippines, and is still available there today.  

This one was bad. Really bad. While many McDonald’s products have failed over the years due to pricing or marketing issues, the Hula Burger was simply a bad sandwich. Ray Kroc may have turned a handful of restaurants into the world’s largest fast food franchise, but his pineapple burger was one “hula-va” bad idea. Previously, strict Catholics would not eat meat on Fridays, so the company thought they could capitalize on that demographic with this meatless sandwich. Turns out that the Filet-O-Fish was more desirable than a slice of grilled pineapple and cheese. The Hula Burger was pulled from restaurants shortly after its debut.  

It was a burger wrapped in pita bread, sold exclusively in Norway and in honor of the Olympics. But consider the fact that Southern Africa was suffering from one of the worst food shortages in the history of the region in 2002, with an estimated 14 million people in urgent need of food aid, and you’ll see that the bad taste wasn’t necessarily in the burger itself, but in the choice of name and timing. McDonald’s addressed the issue by apologizing and by allowing humanitarian aid agencies to put up posters and donation boxes in their locations. They did not however, stop selling the product until September of that year. And then, they re-released another one in 2008 for the Beijing Olympics, again to heavy criticism.  

When it comes to failed fast food sandwiches, this is the stuff of legend. We could describe it to you, but we’d rather let Jason Alexander do the talking. The fact that they went through the trouble (and extra styrofoam) to build this dual-chamber hamburger containment system, just to keep “the tomato and lettuce cool and crisp” is commendable, but so unnecessary. Furthermore, people get fast food on the go, when they want something quick, easy, and ready to eat. Trying to combine the two halves of the burger without losing the toppings might not be rocket science, but it’s still enough work to undermine the core principles of fast food. Even the talented Aretha Franklin couldn’t convince customers.    Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. - Son of Mac - McSalad Shakers - Arch Deluxe - Onion Nuggets - Chicken Fajitas  

#1: Pizza / McPizza 

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In the late ‘80s, McDonald’s had about 40% of the American burger market, but sales consistently lagged around suppertime. Pizza mega franchises like Pizza Hut simply ruled dinner. But Mickey D’s had already won breakfast and were committed to claiming all three meals. Though they’d test marketed personal-sized pizzas in the late ‘70s, the following years saw them introduce various pizza sizes in various locations, including the pizza pocket style McPizza - which failed. But with their fresh-made, oven-baked pizza, they were going all in. The pizza was reasonably well-received, but the wait time was not. For a franchise that conquered on a campaign of speedy service, this was a deal breaker. Pizza was a wrench in the well-greased gears of McDonald’s kitchen. By the end of the ‘90s the McDonald’s pizza dream was essentially dead – though some restaurants were still serving some type of pizza up until 2000, with some reports even saying that two restaurants in the US still offer the dish in one form or another. Do you agree with our list? What’s the biggest McFailed Menu item in your opinion? For more odd top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.