The wonderful horror of the Grimace shake TikTok trend (2024)

Grimace, the purple McDonald's monster, is apparently celebrating its birthday. McDonald's dropped a new item in honor of Grimace's big day: a purple milkshake. It's trending online.

OK, those are the basics. And though the milkshake apparently tastes pretty good, like fruity cereal milk, it's not trending because it's super delicious. No, the Grimace shake is trending because TikTokkers, younger folks especially, have created a strange trend around it. Basically, someone takes a sip of the shake, says it's pretty good, and then appears to end their review. Then the video cuts to a horrific outcome some indeterminate point in the future. Typically speaking, the person who sipped the shake is shown mouth agape, presumed dead or dying, covered in purple goop. But it's turned into this whole trend where people on TikTok effectively make mini horror films centered on the Grimace shake.

The creativity is wonderful and also kind of horrifying. Like people are really good at making faux horror movies with the Grimace shake. Most end with similar gurgling death scenes, but some get far more weird, cinematic, or surprising.

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It some ways the trend is a send-up of the corporate idiocy that is celebrating a fictional monster's birthday with a purple milkshake. That notion is backed by the fact that most of the videos feature people sincerely wishing Grimace a happy birthday before meeting a grizzly fate. The over-analyzer in me thinks this is poking fun at the idea of a world where we ruthlessly celebrate brands and corporations.

Of course, a trend is more of a trend because...well...it's a trend. Someone somewhere thought it would be funny to make a Grimace-themed horror TikTok and everyone else jumped on board. In fact, one of my favorite comedians on TikTok, @caseyrocket, has been making absurdist Grimace content for some time now. Think: Grimace smuggling nuclear material or torturing people with Saw traps. It seems alternate universe Grimace content really plays online. It's funny to imagine a horror-filled version of what is, apparently, a giant...purple... taste bud that smiles and hugs?

Seriously some of these TikToks are something else. They are a mix of legitimately beautiful and disturbing. Look at the scenery, or the wonderful filmmaking choices, or whatever the hell is happening here.

I bet McDonald's sincerely hoped this shake would go viral like their adult happy meals that created an inrush of customers that annoyed workers. I don't imagine McDonald's could have ever pictured the Grimace shake going viral like this. But the internet is unpredictable and really freaking weird.