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McDonald's senior marketing director Guillaume Huin has publicly disclosed the fast-food giant's internal struggle and eventual embrace of the viral 'Grimace Shake death trend' that swept TikTok in 2023. The bizarre trend, where users pretended to die after drinking the purple milkshake, generated over 2.9 billion views and boosted McDonald's quarterly sales by 10%.
Huin took to X on Thursday to share never-before-seen internal communications, revealing that the company initially had no idea how to handle the phenomenon. 'If you think we planted the Grimace Shake trend … thank you. So much. But you think way too highly of us,' Huin wrote, flatly rejecting any notion of a planned marketing stunt.
He described first encountering the trend at home, scrolling social media and seeing users 'losing control' after trying the shake. 'At first, I won't lie, this felt like telling your parents about a massive mistake you made that would ruin all your hard work,' Huin said, capturing the early panic within the brand.
Background
The Grimace Shake—a limited-edition purple vanilla-berry milkshake—launched in June 2023 to celebrate McDonald's mascot Grimace. Within weeks, TikTok users transformed the drink into a horror-comedy prop: film yourself taking a sip, then cut to a staged, dramatic 'death.' The trend joined the ranks of 'girl dinner' and the 'Roman Empire' as the defining internet memes of 2023.
Huin's first internal text described the situation as 'a very unexpected trend taking over TikTok with Grimace Shakes.' He assured leadership that 'it's pure Gen Z humor, so do not take it badly even though it might be disturbing.' Despite initial instincts to distance the brand from the morbid humor, Huin and his team were given time to monitor the trend before deciding on a response. One internal email was simply titled 'what to do?'
Ultimately, the team chose to respond—but subtly, to avoid appearing 'self-serving.' 'Boom, we posted,' Huin recalled, describing a short, non-interventionist acknowledgment that let the meme continue on its own. McDonald's never staged any of the death scenes itself; the company simply let the internet do its thing.
What This Means
This episode offers a rare playbook for brands facing unexpected viral moments: patience, humor, and trust in younger audiences can turn a potential PR crisis into a sales windfall. Huin noted that the team 'never explored or entertained the idea of doing the trend ourselves,' emphasizing the importance of authenticity over manufactured engagement.
As the Grimace Shake recently launched in Germany and is now taking over German social media, Huin's transparency provides a valuable case study. It shows that large legacy brands can survive—and even thrive—when they resist the urge to overcorrect. The takeaway for marketers: don't panic, don't force it, and let the meme live. The trend may have been bizarre, but McDonald's response was textbook modern crisis management.