Watch enough anime or read enough manga and you’ll eventually come upon a scene where the characters eat at a fast food joint often called WcDonalds:
The almost-but-not-quite name of these restaurants is of course to avoid copyright, while telling viewers that they’re eating at McDonalds. It’s become somewhat of a trope these days, and apparently a version of WcDonalds appears in over 60 manga or anime series.
McDonald’s itself has embraced anime for several Japanese TV commercials, and of course these use the real name of the restaurant:
But now McDonalds has gone one step further, and actually embraced the WcDonalds name. Stores in America are right now participating in a month-long WcDonalds event where much of the food packaging and in-store branding (posters, ordering kiosks, even uniforms) now display a large yellow W in place of the familiar M:
Here’s all four sides of the bag you get when you order takeout during the event:
There’s a website (WcDonalds.com) where you can read manga and watch anime based around the characters on the bags. You need the QR code from the bag to unlock these, so here it is:
The manga and anime are cute enough for corporate advertising, but predictably tame. Here’s a panel from the latest one about two teenagers falling in love while sharing WcDonalds:
Disappointingly, the event is limited to branding and the manga/anime. There’s no burgers, toys, or anything to collect. Surely they could have made a ‘Big Wac’ or something? The only actual menu item that is limited to the event is this nugget sauce, which I’m told isn’t fantastic:
A true crime is the lack of any Ronald WcDonald character. I know they’ve turned their back on the world’s favourite clown but surely his bizarro-world brother could have made a triumphant return just for this?
This event is USA-only now but will apparently happen in 30 other countries as well. While they’ve obviously put a lot of effort into it (an actual WcDonalds store is opening for a limited time in LA!) I feel there’s potential for even more. Let’s hope it’s a success and we see Super Saiyan WcDonalds in the future!
