Mariah Carey's McDonald's Prank Has Fans Divided
ICYMI, Mariah Carey teamed up with McDonald's this holiday season for a promo featuring an MC-inspired advent calendar that offered a different free item with a $1 purchase on the McDonald's app December 13th through December 24th. Among other items, the "Mariah Menu" featured a Big Mac on the 13th, a six-piece Chicken McNugget on the 16th, and an apple pie on the 20th (via Today). When Carey herself recently headed to a McDonald's location in Aspen with her children, she surprised employees and treated them to photos with her, but not without playing a couple of quick pranks first.
Carey chronicled the visit on her Instagram account, which starts at the drive-thru ordering station, where her ten-year-old daughter, Monroe, dons a phony voice and pretends to be a difficult customer. The drive-thru employee, eventually frustrated, says, "Ma'am, could you please just leave the store and never come back? Thank you very much." Cue the giggles from Carey. For the next prank, Carey sends her assistants into the restaurant who proceed to try to converse with the staff in Portuguese, leaving them bewildered and confused, a great distraction for when the holiday queen herself waltzes through the door and tries to blend in. That is, blend in as much as she can in a floor-length, red, sparkling gown.
Instagram has mixed feelings about Mariah Carey's McDonald's visit
"I hope I'm not overdressed," Mariah says in the Instagram video after she enters the McDonald's restaurant as customers and employees start to realize who she is. "We're just here and the kids wanted to go to McDonald's," Carey tells a staff member. She jokes around with employees and takes photos with them, wishing them happy holidays upon her departure.
Some Instagrammers saw Carey's post as "awesome" or "fun." Others seemed to think the encounter would inspire excitement or awe, such as one user who commented, "Imagine casually being in work and THEEEEE Mariah Carey walks through the door!!!!!" Another person even said they'd "pass all the way out" upon seeing the singer. Other users, however, saw the pranks as a bit harsh and more like a hassle for employees rather than entertainment. One such commenter wrote, "Making their already irritating job harder and taking glee in it isn't cute." A second detractor found the whole thing "to be quite disrespectful and scornful" and questioned the wisdom of posting the video.
In the end, it seems as if Mariah Carey's intentions were good, as she states at the close of the video, "Listen, this was so fun and spontaneous ... Merry Christmas! I love you!"