What is the Grimace Shake trend? Viral TikTok meme explained

30 June 2023, 10:52

Joe Jonas eats McDonald’s off of Spotify plaque

By Katie Louise Smith

Is the Grimace Shake incident real? Has it killed anyone? The new McDonald's Grimace milkshake sparks hilarious meme on TikTok.

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A new TikTok trend is currently going viral thanks to McDonald's character Grimace and his new purple milkshake called the Grimace Shake.

It all began on June 5th when McDonald's tweeted that Grimace had a surprise announcement and was taking over the brand account. Shortly after posting a selfie and asking people to text him, memes starting going viral.

Then, after confirming that a Grimace birthday meal would be added to the McDonald's menu, the Grimace Shake trend began and now it's completely taken over TikTok. But what it is? Is it real? And has anyone actually been harmed?

Here's what it means and how it started.

What is the McDonald's Grimace Shake?

Grimace Shake trend goes viral on TikTok but what does it mean? Is it real? Picture: McDonald's via Twitter, @thefrazmaz via TikTok

What does the Grimace Shake taste like? Has it actually killed or poisoned anyone?

First of all, no. No one has actually died or been poisoned by the Grimace Shake. It's a perfectly fine and safe drink (for those who aren't allergic to any of the ingredients, of course). The whole thing is literally just a viral comedy trend.

The Grimace shake was released in celebration of Grimace's 52nd birthday as part of the Grimace birthday meal, and the purple drink is a limited edition milkshake that apparently tastes like blueberry and fruit cereal. (Unfortunately, it's only available in the US.)

Now, TikTokers are filming themselves getting their hands on the Grimace shake, drinking it, and then appearing to either be dead, passed out or vomiting purple milk all over the streets as if they've been poisoned.

The #grimaceshake hashtag has now had over 145 million views on TikTok and the videos of people taking part in the trend have all gone massively viral.

Dubbing themselves 'Grimace Victims', here are a few examples of the trend in action.

What does the Grimace Shake trend mean?

TikTok user @thefrazmaz, who claims to have posted the first Grimace Shake video on June 14th, explained the meme in a follow up post to his initial video.

Explaining the trend, Fraz wrote: "What does this trend mean? Is the shake bad? What's going on? Since I am the original 'victim' of Grimace, it's quite literally just a meme."

"When I decided to make this video, I was thinking, 'Oh this is like the Spider-Verse burger,' it's an unnatural colour, it's unique," he continued. "And I saw a guy do it with the burger where he took a bite and the next scene was him in the hospital. So I was like, 'let's do something similar'."

"It's just supposed to be a meme about, 'It's a really weird colour, it means it's not good you, Grimace is collecting victims... It's just funny, ya know."