Top 10 Saddest McDonald's Happy Meal Toys Ever

Having your parents buy you a Happy Meal at McDonald's was undoubtedly one of the best things when you were a child. Being able to open that box and see what toy was inside was like Christmas morning. Happy Meals have been around at the iconic fast food joint since 1979 and have been making kids

happy

ever

since. Happy Meal

toys

are sometimes a collaboration with another industry (e.g.

toys

based on movies) or sometimes just an original McDonald's creation. The selection of toys is always changing and some are a hit with children, while others are not so good.

Here are the 10

saddest

McDonald's Happy Meal toys

ever

sold. McDonald's Halloween Buckets Kids love Halloween. Being able to dress up as someone or something you're not is exciting, and the best part of all is collecting a ton of free candy. McDonald's realized this and realized that they could easily capitalize on a holiday as popular with children as Halloween. Except I'm not sure I really understood what part of Halloween kids love, because the restaurant's idea of ​​a cool, fun Happy Meal toy for kids was a series of cubes. These cubes have been released as a McDonald's toy several times since the 1980s, and their designs often include images of witches, ghosts, and carved pumpkins.

The idea behind the buckets was for kids to use them to put their candy in while trick-or-treating, and sure, this sounds like a good idea, but is it really something kids would be excited about? These cubes were a little different from the traditional Happy Meal because instead of coming inside the red box, the cubes were the container that held the food. Because of this, many children were led to believe that there would be a toy inside the cube. Imagine their disappointment when they were told no, there are no action figures or stuffed animals today, they just get a bucket.

Ronald McDonald Sunglasses When McDonald's isn't partnering with a toy company or the latest children's movie, it needs to come up with its own ideas for Happy Meal toys. More often than not, the franchise chooses to promote itself by selling toys that feature its beloved characters. Ronald McDonald is the brand's most recognizable character and the one that appears on most products. Unfortunately, the more products he has, the greater the chances of appearing in something horrible. In this case, that product was a pair of Ronald McDonald-themed sunglasses. These sunglasses were released several times over the years for promotions for McDonaldland, the character-filled land that McDonald's used as a marketing tool from 1971 to 2003.

These sunglasses were ugly, to say the least. The tires were classic McDonald yellow, and the top was made of Ronald McDonald with his arms outstretched, with his smiling face right in the middle. Not only are these sunglasses a little scary because of Ronald McDonald's smile, but they also turn the wearer into a walking advertisement for the burger franchise. The design of the glasses is by no means subtle and with a quick glance it is very obvious where they come from. I don't even think the most dedicated customers want their kids walking around in these sunglasses. Mickey D's Steps Everyone can agree that it is important for children to be active and exercise as it is essential for their growth and happiness.

Although McDonald's is famous for its unhealthy food, it decided it was important to promote an active lifestyle among the children who visited its restaurants. After all, they have to find a way to burn off those chicken nugget calories. So in 2016, McDonald's decided to launch a step-counting wristwatch called Step-It. It's great that a great restaurant promotes fitness, but there were some problems with the toy. A step counter isn't exactly a toy a child would be excited to receive, especially on a visit to McDonald's when he's definitely not thinking about health at the moment. And even if a child wanted to use his new step counter while he ran, there were big problems.

The product was recalled from all McDonald's locations after 70 reports came in from customers claiming the device had left their skin burning and blistering. 29 million units had to be recalled in the United States and customers who had already received the item were able to exchange it for something else. Perhaps this incident was a sign that McDonald's should continue to be as unhealthy as we know. Gardening Toys at McDonald’s Taking care of the planet we live on is extremely important and definitely needs to be taught to children from an early age. Even McDonald's knows this, which is why they decided to launch a line of "Nature Watch Happy Meals" in 1991 in honor of Earth Day.

The

happy

meal

was different than usual because it was served in a bag made from recyclable materials instead of the usual box. The concept of the line, which included a set of various gardening tools, was a great idea to promote outdoor work, but the execution was questionable. One part of the collection was a set of gardening tools that included a small rake and shovel. They were cheaply made and too small to be useful, but it was a good idea. Next was a small watering can designed to look like a coiled hose. This would have been great for helping parents water their plants if the can could actually hold enough water to be useful.

Then there was a small greenhouse that came with a packet of flower seeds. Miraculously, flowers were able to grow inside it, but the plastic dome cover broke easily, defeating the purpose of a greenhouse. Finally, there was a bird feeder that was too small for many birds to eat. It is admirable that McDonald's has made an effort to get children to help take care of the Earth, but it is less so when the products it sells are ineffective. McD's Genre Spiderman Toys It's common knowledge that McDonald's has Genre Spiderman toys. The franchise offers “toys for girls” and “toys for boys,” which are usually two completely different things (like Barbies for girls and cars for boys).

This strict gender classification in toys has generated controversy among customers, so in 2014 McDonald's decided to change things. For the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie, the restaurant launched a line of toys based on Spider-Man and announced that they would be for both boys and girls, which earned praise. However, when the toy line was launched, customers soon realized that the company had completely missed the mark. Although this set of Happy Meal toys was said to be for both girls and boys, they were still differentiated by gender. The kids' set included Spider-Man action figures, a Spider-Man-themed car, a tin of trading cards and more, all in Spider-Man's traditional color palette of red and blue.

The girls' half of the collection featured a Spider-Man-themed bag, headbands, and bracelets, along with a tin full of heart stickers, all of which follow a pink and purple color scheme. Although McDonald's tried to say that girls can like superheroes too, it still made an unnecessary division between boys' and girls' toys, and made it seem like girls only like traditionally girly things. E.T Poster at McDonald's E.T the Extra-Terrestrial was a hugely successful film directed by Steven Spielberg, released in 1982. At the time of its release, it became the highest-grossing film at the box office and won multiple prestigious awards.

And of course, when a movie does well, McDonald's decides to cash in on it. McDonald's decided to jump on the E.T train shortly after the film's release and decided to collaborate with the creators to release a set of E.T-themed happy

meal

toys. However, this set of toys did not live up to the success of the movie and are definitely some of the worst Happy Meal toys of all time. The toy released was not a toy at all, but was actually just a small sign. 4 variations of the poster were released and customers were supposed to collect them all.

Each poster featured a drawing of a different scene from the film with the beloved alien as the focus. The idea of ​​receiving a poster instead of a toy was bad enough for kids in the '80s, but the quality of the posters was even worse. They were small and heavily folded, causing unattractive wrinkles in the posters, and to make matters worse, they were greasy from being in a box of McDonald's food. These posters were a disappointment overall and it's no surprise they're on this list. Ronald McDonald Glove Puppet Another addition to the list of disappointing McDonald's character themed toys is this puppet that was released several times in Happy Meals since the 1970s.

During this era, the McDonaldland characters were quite popular. among children, so it was not unusual for McDonald's to profit from them by turning them into Happy Meal toys. However, it seemed like they were running out of ideas pretty quickly, as this Ronald McDonald glove puppet was definitely not one of the best toys the restaurant has ever released. The puppet was simply a type of white latex glove with a picture of Ronald McDonald to wear on the hand. There were no moving parts or anything vaguely entertaining, just a glove. I'm sure some kids could have had fun with this using their imagination, but for others, the cheap glove was nothing more than a disappointment.

It's obvious that none of McDonald's Happy Meal toys are well made, but this one really shows how cheap the company is willing to go to make a profit off of unsuspecting children. Clearly, there was also an extreme amount of creativity associated with this toy, as it is probably one of the simplest toys ever released in a Happy Meal collection over the years. American Idol MP3 Player The American Idol singing competition debuted in 2002 and quickly gained a large following. The show reached its peak popularity in 2007, and there were millions of children across the country watching it every week and supporting their favorite singers.

Another thing that was popular with kids in 2007 was MP3 players, so McDonald's had the great idea of ​​combining the two to create the American Idol MP3 Player Happy Meal toy. McDonald's loves to collaborate with other popular companies, but in this case the final product was not a success. The toy was shaped like a white iPod with a “screen” that showed the American Idol stage and the show's logo at the bottom. Surprisingly, the toy plays music, but of course there is a problem. The only song it plays is the instrumental that plays between the American Idol commercials.

Fans of the show may have purchased this toy to hear renditions of songs covered by the show's contestants, but instead all they received was a brief techno interlude. In addition to disappointing children, the repetitive melody must have bothered parents of children who really enjoyed the toy. Overall, this collaboration was a disappointment for both the children and their parents. Ronald McDonald's mask coulrophobia, that is, the fear of clowns, is a common phobia among people, so I don't understand why McDonald's chooses to use a clown as its main marketing character. Having Ronald McDonald as the main character of McDonaldland has made for some pretty interesting marketing adventures over the years, and the Happy Meal toys featuring the sometimes-loved, sometimes-feared clown are no exception.

One of the creepiest clown-related toys McDonald's has ever released is the Ronald McDonald mask, as part of the Happy Meal in 1974. This mask was simply a piece of cardboard with Ronald McDonald's face drawn on it, and it was quite terrifying. to that. The mask showed the clown smiling widely while his seemingly dead eyes stared straight ahead. This all gives off a very unsettling vibe and a child seems more likely to cry from fear at the sight than from joy. In addition to being a little scary, the mask was cheaply made only from flimsy cardboard that could easily tear, rather than a stronger material like plastic.

It seems that the only thing this mask was really good for was to terrify anyone who dared to look at it. The goat that ate everything at McDonald's We all know that a healthy, balanced diet is an essential part of a good lifestyle, and it is extremely important that children eat properly as they grow. We also know that it is important for children to practice their reading skills. But another thing we know is that McDonald's is famous for being an extremely unhealthy fast food joint. Most McDonald's food is extremely high in fat, sodium, and calories in general, and everyone knows thatIt's definitely not diet food.

So you can understand the confusion when in 2013, McDonald's included a book about the importance of eating healthy as its Happy Meal toy. The book is titled “The Goat That Ate Everything” and was written by John Montgomery. The book tells the story of a goat who eats whatever she wants until she realizes that certain foods are better than others. Reviews show that kids really enjoyed the story, but it's the irony of the situation that puts this book on this list. For McDonald's to give kids a book about why they should eat healthy when they're eating one of the unhealthiest fast food options out there is just ridiculous.

Of course, kids should eat healthy, but when McDonald's tells them to do so, are they really going to listen? Stick around, we'd love for you to click on one of our other great videos. You can also find out how to become an official BabbleTopper by clicking the join link in the description below.