You Can Still Get McDonaldland Cookies In Australia
Beginning in the 1970s, McDonald's ran a marketing campaign directed toward kids — McDonaldland. This fantasy world was filled with many burger-eating characters, like Grimace, Hamburglar, and their leader, Ronald McDonald. Looking back, these bizarre characters came across as slightly creepy, but that wasn't how kids felt about them. There were action figures, playgrounds, and eventually even a lawsuit that all stemmed from McDonaldland. Yet, McDonaldland's presence has not completely faded. McDonaldland cookies can still be found in Australia.
McDonaldland cookies were another product of the kid-targeted campaign. These cookies took the shapes of the characters and came in a neat little box with golden arch handles. When the Happy Meal was introduced nationally in 1979, these cookies joined the kids' meal spread. Reddit users reminiscing over these long-lost cookies report seeing them in smaller boxes and, later, in plastic bags during the years they were offered in Happy Meals. The cookie's flavor is close to that of an animal cracker and is described by one Reddit user as "artificial goodness." Little do they know that Australians are lucky enough to snack on these nostalgic cookies at their local McDonald's — yet another reason to add the Land Down Under to your food travel bucket list.
Why did McDonald's do away with these cookies?
McDonald's stopped putting cookies in its Happy Meals for health reasons, mainly. The fast food chain was under fire for its high-calorie and high-sodium kids meals, thought to be linked to childhood obesity in the 2000s. Companies like Disney, who once partnered with McDonald's to promote its movies and shows via Happy Meal boxes and toys, broke ties with McDonald's. As one Reddit user quipped, "The food police stepped in, and they were forced to replace the cookies with apple slices" due to the backlash. McDonaldland cookies disappeared from Happy Meals in 2004. (Apple slices are undeniably the healthier option.) From the health backlash to the overall fading presence of McDonaldland, it makes sense that the cookies aren't in wide circulation anymore.
However, McDonald's locations in Australia still offer bags of these cookies, not in Happy Meals but as part of its general dessert menu. These cookies are among the few remaining traces of McDonaldlands' presence. Nevertheless, customers did get to celebrate Grimace's birthday with the Grimace birthday meal and shake earlier in 2023.