Top 10 McDonald’s Products That Failed

#1 McLobster

A take-off on the lobster roll, this sandwich was basically lobster meat on a hot dog bun, together with some lettuce and “McLobster sauce.” Every once in awhile, this product reappears in outlets across the country, only to disappear again. One problem with the McLobster is the price, as it costs more than most McDonald’s patrons want to pay. Another problem is that people don’t connect the upscale image of lobster with fast food.

#2 McGratin Croquette

This product was created especially for the market in Japan, where it was called Gurakoro. It’s an unusual dish, which combined mashed potatoes, macaroni and shrimp into a croquette shape, and then deep fried it and served it on a bun with lettuce and sauce. Though the marketing campaign didn’t do so well, most people attribute this product’s failure to its odd taste.

#3 Arch Deluxe

This product from 1996 was meant to be an adult-only burger. It was a quarter pounder with lettuce, cheese, onions, tomatoes, secret sauce, and peppered bacon. The ad campaign was designed to focus on the adult-only theme, and showed kids looking at the burger in a disgusted way. When the $100 million marketing campaign flopped, the Arch Deluxe became a very expensive failure.

#4 McPizza

McDonald’s started serving pizza in the 1980s, with a made-to-order pizza intended to compete with chains like Domino’s. However, this dish took far more time to make than other McDonald’s offerings, which didn’t make customers happy. The next attempt was McPizza, something like Hot Pockets, and it was another flop. It seems people go to McDonald’s for the burgers and fries.

#5 Hula Burger

The Hula Burger was created as a meatless burger for Catholics who don’t eat meat on Fridays. Rather than beef or chicken in the burger, it just contained grilled pineapple and cheese. People did not like it, and the company quickly found that Fillet-o-Fish was a more attractive alternative

#6 McAfrika

This failed product was a pita sandwich which had beef, tomatoes, cheese and salad in it. The problem was that the company had not considered the public impact of introducing this product in 2002, while Africa was suffering from major famines. It was a PR disaster, and the company had to apologize and pull out the product.

#7 McDLT

In the mid-1980s, McDonald’s introduced this burger, with the unusual idea of keeping the veggies separate from the burger. The sandwich came in a double styrofoam box, with lettuce and tomatoes on one side so they would stay cool. Given consumers’ increasing concern about the environment, using twice as much styrofoam per burger was another PR mistake.

#8 McSpaghetti

McSpaghetti was part of McDonald’s push to bring dinner items to their menu. Along with spaghetti, they also offered fettuccine alfredo and lasagna. You could get your dinner entree with veggie medley or mashed potatoes. Somehow this never caught on.

#9 McLean Deluxe

When McDonald’s wanted to improve their health-conscious appeal, they brought out this sandwich which they touted as being 91 percent fat free. Unfortunately, to reach that goal, they replaced the fat in the burgers with water and carrageenan, a type of seaweed. This was never a hit with consumers.

#10 Super Size

These oversized meals were popular with customers until the independent documentary film Super Size Me came out in 2004. That created another PR disaster for McDonald’s, and the company had to remove them from its menu. Courtesy of http://www.uncoverdiscover.com