The manager of a McDonalds franchise in Canada has revealed the story behind Grimace , the purple pal of longtime mascot Ronald McDonald, and its left a lot of people very confused.
Brian Bates, who has worked for the chain for 10 years, casually dropped it into an interview with CBC News over the weekend.
He is an enormous taste bud, but a taste bud nonetheless, Bates told the network in an unofficial explanation, adding that the character was meant to show that the food tastes good.
McDonalds has been unusually tight-lipped about the purple creatures origins over the years. The closest it had come to providing an explanation was a few variations of this tweet, which it has sent out from time to time in response to inquisitive customers:
.@margo_padilla Great question! #Grimace lore says he is the embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud. What do you think? #AskAnArchivist
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","slug":"mcdonalds","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/mcdonalds","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/mcdonalds","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/mcdonalds"},"department":{"name":"Impact","slug":"impact"},"section":{"title":"Business","slug":"business"},"topic":{"title":"McDonald's","slug":"mcdonalds","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/impact/topic/mcdonalds"},{"name":"fast food","slug":"fast-food","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/fast-food","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/fast-food","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/fast-food"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"U.S. News","slug":"us-news"},"topic":{"title":"Fast 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What do you think? #AskAnArchivist
McDonald's Corporation (@McDonaldsCorp) October 30, 2014
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Grimace, who was actually a villain early on, doesnt resemble a milkshake. But he does kinda look like he may have been inspired by images of taste buds and papillae:
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