Grimace Shake
Meme & format · 2023 · Notable
The Grimace Shake horror trend reached 2.4 billion TikTok hashtag views.
Adult Trick or Treater
@Paynuspain · Jun 27, 2023
The tik tok grimace shake trend is a really good example of how good gen Z is at absurdist humor
Spread Score
How it worksNumbers
- Brand response X impressions, live; X API lookup
- 6.6M
- As of Oct 12, 2026 · X · Self-reported · McDonald's
- Seed to peak
- 2 weeks
- Jun 13 ’23 to Jun 28 ’23
- Platforms
- 6
- Started on TikTok
- Origin
- Mixed
- Food & beverage
Ingredients
Every copy kept the sip, the cut and the purple mess. The text didn’t matter.
| Opens like a normal review | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The sip | |||
| Hard cut to a collapse | |||
| Purple mess in the aftermath | |||
| Text on screen |
TikTok views, 19 Oct 2026
How it spread
Trace the originFrazier posted a horror tasting on June 13. Twelve days later, TikTok remixes cascaded into fan art on X. McDonald's pretended not to see them; its CEO later called Grimace the theme of the quarter.
15 more events on this chart
Join free to see themTimeline (18)
June 2023
McDonald's precursor · Jun 6 ’23
McDonald's announced a Grimace meal and purple shake; the campaign included a Brian Cox-narrated TV spot.[1][2][3]
8.6M X impressions as of 2026-10-12 (live)Open the first post ↗McDonald's precursor · Jun 12 ’23
The Grimace Birthday Meal and Shake became available at participating U.S. restaurants.[2]
TheReportOfTheWeek precursor · Jun 12 ’23
TheReportOfTheWeek reviewed the birthday meal before the horror format appeared.[4]
Changelogupdated Oct 13 ’26
- Archived 5 sources
- Added: 16 events, 30 sources · Score 59
Spread the same way
New cases, every week
How the next thing spread, the week it does.