Jason Alexander Sings About How To Make A McDLT In 'Lost' '80s McDonald's Ad
The 1980s is renowned for cheese — not the dairy variety, but the type that used to play through boomboxes as folks boogied their way down every street. People must have been so much stronger in the years before streaming.
Billboard credits a number of artists with some of the best hits of the 1980s, including Blondie, Diana Ross, and Olivia Newton-John. However, one bastion of 80s cheese mysteriously fails to make the cut: Jason Alexander.
Before starring as George in the TV hit "Seinfeld" in 1989 (per Time), Jason Alexander obviously had to ensure a cash flow somehow. According to AV Club, Alexander starred in a particularly cheesy television commercial for McDonald's — ironic, considering the advertisement was promoting not quite a BLT, but the company's cheese, lettuce, and tomato McDLT hamburger. Featuring lots of people jumping around and lyrics surely worthy of a Grammy Award, Alexander clearly channeled all of his acting talents to champion the McDonald's burger in 1985. But what exactly did Alexander have to do during the commercial, and what became of the McDLT sandwich?
Jason Alexander is very passionate about McDonald's McDLT burger
Sporting a characteristically 80s bright white suit, the commercial boasting McDonald's "new McD.L.T." shows Jason Alexander gathering the attention of a group of people and asking them if they are "tired of lettuce and tomato hamburgers ... that don't quite make it" (per YouTube). The gathered group enthusiastically shouts their agreement, and Alexander reveals that hungry patrons can at long last have hot hamburger patties with lettuce and tomato that stays cold and crisp.
Cue wild singing, clapping, and dancing that puts "Footloose" to shame while Alexander determinedly shows the McDLT's distinct feature: a burger divided into two boxes but held together by a polystyrene joint, keeping the bottom bun and hamburger patty in one box, and top bun with lettuce, cheese, and tomato in the other. The big selling point of the McDLT is that "the hot stays hot" and "the cool stays cool." Marketing techniques evidently became more sophisticated in successive decades.
Despite the bouncy sales pitch, the McDLT reached its demise in 1990, suffering from adverse publicity relating to its extensive use of polystyrene packing, details Insider. WRTV explains that McDonald's decided to phase out foam packing in 1990 in response to environmental concerns.