The Big Mac, the Quarter Pounder and the Double Cheeseburger are the Olympic champions of the McDonald's menu.
But dozens of McFlops have lined the path to the vast market offered by this fast-food behemoth.
See also: Scanned Images Reveal Another Side of Fast Food
With its place as the No. 1 fast food chain in the world, McDonald's has frequently pushed the envelope of innovation.
Yet for every successful experiment like Chicken Selects or the McGriddle, McDonald's secret McLab has produced plenty of McDuds. Ranging from the understandable, such as McPasta, to the weird, like the Onion McNuggets, here are 11 products McDonald's probably wishes it had never tried.
The McHotDog was McDonald's attempt to break into the lucrative tubed-shaped meat industry. In the late 90's, some Midwestern and British franchises tried to ride the weiner trend, despite former CEO Ray Kroc's public condemnation of the food as "dirty." The McHotDog has been sighted in the wild as recently as 2009 in some Tokyo stores, but it never seems to last too long. I guess that's what they get for defying the ghost of Kroc.
The McDLT was a misguided attempt to solve the "warm lettuce" problem that McDonald's thought was plaguing its customers.
The solution involved separating the hot meat from the cold veggies in a specialized two-compartment insulated Styrofoam container and hiring Kevin Alexander to explain the sandwich in song form. If you're already having trouble paying attention, then you understand the plight of customers who ordered the McDLT. (Assemble the sandwich myself? Ain't nobody got time for that!) McDonald's official statement is that the special containers were too costly and bad for the environment, but its passing was lightly mourned.
Before McDonald's introduced salad entrees to target the hearts (and arteries) of the health-food demographic, there was the McLean Deluxe.
Boasting a 91 percent lean beef patty, the McLean Deluxe was oddly-shaped and used a seaweed derivative to hold the meat together. Americans are used to that job being done by sweet, juicy fat, so the McLean Deluxe was an unpleasant surprise. McDonald's dominated the comfort food market, but the McLean Deluxe simply wasn't too comforting.
In the early 90's, McDonald's ventured into Olive Garden territory, launching several pasta-based items on its dinner menu and installing pizza ovens in hundreds of McKitchens throughout the world.
Neither of these ventures captured the hearts, minds nor stomachs of McCustomers,and demand for both McSpaghetti and McPizza was low.
However, Mickey D's had invested about $50,000 into each pizza oven they bought. Most franchises ate the difference, but many managed to keep pumping out pizzas until the turn of the century. There are still a few restaurants that continue to sell both family and personal pizza pies, such as one in in Pomeroy, Ohio, but they exist as an exception to the rule and a novelty.
In the wake of the Kiwiburger's ridiculous success in New Zealand, McDonalds tried to cash in on the same powerful nationalism in Australia -- thus the great and powerful McOz was conceived.
Consisting of Beetroot, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheddar, ketchup and mustard, the McOz was supposed to be a unique burger that only Aussies would eat. However, it seemed that they were pickier than the Kiwis, preferring authentic Australian beetroot burgers. On the other hand, this commercial now exists because of the McOz.
The Onion Nuggets were a side designed to go with the Beefsteak Sandwich. They were discontinued in 1979, presumably when science confirmed that rings, not nuggets, were the ideal shape in which to deep fry an onion.
The second installment in McDonald's 'Deluxe' line of hamburgers was the Arch Deluxe. Commercials were marketed toward adults, touting the sandwich as having a more complex flavor, not suitable for children.
Some commercials depicted children being actually disgusted by the taste of the burger. This was, no doubt, off-putting for the families in which such commercials are directed. The presumably large number of dollars funneled into that marketing campaign (featuring a young Jessica Biel) makes the Arch Deluxe one of the most fantastic flops in the history of the golden arches.
The story of the McStuffin is a short one. McDonald's basically tried to sell Hot Pockets for a while and gave them a silly name.
They are now so long-forgotten that in a Google search, a minor Disney Jr. show buries it to oblivion.
Featuring deep fried macaroni, shrimp and potato, this sandwich is so extremely extreme that it was only ever attempted in Japan. Even there, the eclecticness of the McGratin Croquette was not received well.
It has been discontinued and reintroduced several times in Japan, but even the adorable macaroni in the commercial -- just begging to be deep fried -- simply couldn't convince consumers.
Ah, the McSalad Shaker. The funnest way to eat a salad before the year 2008. This crowning achievement of salad-craft has been compared to a shake weight by some YouTube personalities, and developed a cult following soon after it was removed from the menu. There is even a Facebook page dedicated to returning the leafy 90's classic to the McMenu.
Unfortunately, McSalad Shakers never sold nearly well enough to justify bringing them back. It will remain nothing but a fond memory of the '90s, just like Hammer pants, scrunchies and Surge.
This sandwich was an unfortunately-timed attempt to offer something exotic to McDonald's Norwegian customers. It was distributed in 2002 to coincide with the Winter Olympics, but wound up coinciding with a massive famine in Africa as well.
The promotion of the sandwich was seen as incredibly insensitive, especially since Norway is one of the richer countries per capita in the world. Rather than pull the sandwich, McDonald's allowed charities working to relieve the food crisis to set up donation boxes in Norwegian McDonald's. The McAfrika left the menu in Sept. 2002. Many were outraged when McDonald's tried to reintroduce the McAfrika alongside the 2008 Olympics.
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