The old days

Thanks to OZ’s Kathy Shaw for sending along news about McDonald’s Adult Happy Meal rollout.  Apparently, since its introduction last week, it has been more popular than McDonald’s bargained for.  Stores are running out of special boxes and toys left and right.

These new Happy Meals take adults back to the old days, with specially designed boxes and images of classic mascots like Grimace and the Hamburglar.  But there is a new twist with the addition of Cactus Buddy, a mascot that symbolizes McDonald’s partnership with Cactus Plant Flea Market, an enigmatic streetwear brand that is a fascinating marketing success story of its own.

A number of fast-food brands are toying with nostalgia this fall. Nostalgia can serve as a form of comfort and social glue. It releases all kinds of feel-good hormones. (And on the downside, it also can hold us back in certain circumstances.) 

If you have an hour for a great podcast, this episode of NPR’s Throughline argues that in the (sort of) post-pandemic world, nostalgia for better times might be especially salient.

Are there other brands making great use of nostalgia right now?