TOP 6 McDonald’s Menu Biggest Fails: Will Fresh Beef Quarter Pounder Be The Next One?
McDonald’s announced it will serve Quarter Pounders with fresh beef rather than frozen patties at about a quarter of its U.S. restaurants. It is expected we’ll see fresh beef Quarter Pounders on the menu of most of 14,000 U.S. restaurants by May.
Will it be McDonald’s biggest success or just another one marketing fail? We’ll see.
Nexter.org compiled 6 of the biggest failures McDonald’s has ever had.
Arch Deluxe
In late 1996 McDonald’s spent huge $150 million for the Arch Deluxe advertising campaign that turned out to be a very expensive mistake.
The Arch Deluxe — a quarter-pounder on a split-top potato bun.
The burger was geared toward adults, with add-ons like circular peppered bacon, leaf lettuce, Spanish onions, and a mustard-mayo sauce, and the unconventional ads included kids looking at the burger and saying things like, “I don’t understand what the big deal is.”
Source: McDonald’s
McLobster
The McLobster is pretty much lobster meat shoved in a hot dog bun with “McLobster sauce” and shredded lettuce. The fabled McLobster drew some hype when rumors swirled about its appearance nationwide. It’s currently only available in parts of New England and eastern Canada.
Source: Yunyi Tang on Twitter
Hula Burger
The meatless Hula Burger was meant for Catholics who abstained from eating meat every Friday. Instead of a beef or chicken patty, its bun contained a grilled pineapple slice, topped with cheese.
People simply didn’t like it, so McDonald’s had to kill it and create Filet-o-Fish instead.
Source: McDonald’s
CHECK ALSO: Shame on You: 5 Top Brands Worst Advertising Fails
McHotDog
McHotDog fail was caused by a branding issue. McDonald’s consumers just didn’t equate the brand with the type of food. It made a few comebacks during the mid-1990s as a seasonal item in select mid-western US restaurants.
Source: JunkFoodTasterDotCom / YouTube
Super-size
In the mid-1990s, McDonald’s launched a campaign allowing customers to “Super-Size” their meal for an added fee but after the release of the documentary Super-Size Me, which exposed the dangers of McDonald’s and fast food in general, the concept of super-sizing a meal went rapidly downhill, resulting in the company pulling it from menus in 2004.
Source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
McPizza
In the 1980s, McDonald’s felt the need to compete with other fast-food chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut and decided to launch the McPizza.
But the McPizza was unpopular with patrons looking for fast in-and-out service, and it (and the other Italian dishes) quickly left the scene.
Source: McDonald’s
See also:
- 13 STUPIDEST Poster Fails: Ready Player One, Tomb Raider and Others
- Mcdonald’s: Take Off Your Phone. Talk To Each Other.
- Biggest Starbucks Ever: Longest Coffee Bar and Nitrogen Infused Teas in Shanghai

