McDonald's success has left it ripe for parody.
Most of us are probably familiar with Coming to America's McDowell's.
But there's a McDonald's parody that is way more prolific in the world: "WcDonald's."
WcDonald's is the fictional restaurant of anime. It first appeared in the series Cat's Eye in 1983.
I'm pretty sure they just ripped off the name from the 172nd edition of MAD magazine in 1975.
Anyway, the fictional restaurant has appeared in several animated movies, series, and video games over the years, developing its own cult following.
So much so that McDonald's has announced that it has developed a new special edition series with Studio Pierrot, of Naruto fame, featuring WcDonald's.
Manga chapters and anime shorts will drop Mondays, Feb. 26 through March 18. They can be accessed by QR codes on WcDonald's packaging, which will include 10-piece WcNuggets, usually known as Chicken McNuggets. They will pair with a Savory Chili WcDonald's Sauce for a limited time.
The promotion will also include a special dining experience March 9-10 in a real WcDonalds in West Hollywood in a pop-up with 360 projection mapping and immersive tabletop projections. Reservations are required via OpenTable, and can be made starting February 28.
(I probably won't be traveling out to Hollywood for the dining experience.)
But I have to admit, I was tempted by that WcDonald's savory chili sauce.
It was spicy with a touch of sugar and vinegar like General Tso's, but the overwhelming flavor was soy sauce.
As long as I was trying it out, I scanned the QR code too.
Watching their anime short is the equivalent of Ralphie getting his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring in A Christmas Story.
It's nothing but a commercial for the McGeneral Soy's sauce.
I can't say I was disappointed in the sauce or the anime because I didn't have high expectations for either in the first place, but it's a fun bit of fantasy peeking into the real world, and there's nothing wrong with that.
