McDonald's Made Its Very Own Vinyl Record For This Genius Retro Ad Campaign

If we asked "what kinds of products can you get from McDonald's," most people would probably respond with burgers, fries, or maybe even pizza if you remember the brief period McDonald's sold it. It's unlikely anyone would say "vinyl records of a McDonald's-themed song." But, look back to 1988, and the burger giant indeed produced millions of records for a unique ad campaign.

McDonald's had the record attached to millions of mail-out advertising sheets. The record contained just one track, the "Menu Song," where a singer (or rather, speaker) with a chorus more-or-less recites the McDonald's menu at an absurdly fast pace over some funk- and R&B-tinged music. It's topped off with comments about how great and tasty McDonald's is. On most versions of the record — technically not vinyl as you know it but a "flexi-disc," a cheap-to-produce record of vinyl-coated paper that could be folded up with advertisements — the chorus would screw up the fast-paced song and give up. But, on a handful, the chorus would sing it correctly through to the end. Then, you'd get a message to call a phone number to claim a prize of $1 million dollars (around $2.7 million nowadays, once you account for inflation). There was also a possibility of smaller prizes from the advertising insert. Only one out of around 80 million records was the winner, and it went to a Virginia teen. While it helped him and his family out temporarily, the money ended up being somewhat squandered. The winner, ironically, ended up working at McDonald's.

Was it a success for McDonald's? There's no firm verdict. Since the records were sent out as advertising inserts, it wouldn't have directly increased sales like, for example, the later Monopoly promotion that required people to purchase menu items to have a shot at winning (and which ended up being a massive scam). But it probably drew plenty of attention to McDonald's based on its scale — with 80 million flexi-discs printed, it was the most-distributed record of the year, beating Michael Jackson's "Thriller" by more than 10 million copies (although the McDonald's record was free).

On the flip side, though, it could also be seen as McDonald's jumping on a bandwagon, similar to what McDonald's did in the '90s with Beanie Babies. Many big companies ran flexi-disc promotions. Quaker Oats ran a similar competition, cereal companies put them on boxes, and Burger King offered them with kids meals. The "Menu Song" didn't end up having the longevity of other McDonald's jingles, including "ba-da-da-da-da," although it's enough of a nostalgic moment that McDonald's Canada revived it in 2024. You can even still find copies of the "Menu Song" for sale on eBay if you're willing to throw down anywhere from $10 to $40.