McDonald’s In the 70s & 80s — Why We Loved It
Gen X grew up during the golden age of McDonald’s marketing. We couldn’t help but love it!
https://youtu.be/xF-0sYsLP10?si=B1uDgYfoTZVZ6cv8
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@MichelleBab-gy2yx
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Holy crap! Kirk Cameron and Tracey Gold waaaay before Growing Pains!
@LittleJoeTheMoonlightCat
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Speaking of Fast Food, I know a place where you can get a Rodeo Burger 1:13 Now that's a Happy Meal, I don't know what they're selling now, But The Happy Meal needs the Golden Arches Handle. It's the McDonald's Trade Mark. It's the same as if all the sudden instead of dressing like Bunnies The Play Boy girls were just in a 🩱 or Topless 👙🩳🩲, You see the problem? I never got a Birthday Party at McDonald's. 2:40 Oh going back to the very beginnng with Ray Crock and The McDonald Brothers, Dick and Mac, before Ronald became the mascot. 3:14 Scenes from The Founder (2016) Starring Michael Keaton as Ray Crock. Hey that film's as old as my channel. 3:29 Wow Beverages and fries for $0.10, Shakes for $0.20 Hamburgers for $0.15 and with cheese $0.19, Talk about a value meal you could buy the entire menu for $1.14 4:41 It' just like the one we had in Great Falls, MT. It was right next to the Park, Genius Location thinking back on it. The kids could get our food, and eat it at the park. 5:43 and the Core Gen-X is born. I think The Ronald McDonald Costume is meant to be Ketsup and Mustard. 6:18 Nice editing, no CGI. 7:22 YAY, The Ronald we all grew up with, with a 60s style Computer. 11:05 They don't make ads like that anymore. 13:30 I always wanted to do one of those ads. 17:05 the Cookies tasted like Animal Crackers. Probably the same formula. 21:50 Icy Coke, Big Shakes, Sundaes and Apple Pies, and Repeat. Birdy was also a Character, I still remember when she Hatched on the scene. 25:07 The McNuggets? I always took the sweet and sour sauce. 27:58 The Year I became a Jellicle cat. Check The Icon and Handle of my Channel, I'm still Little Joe: The Moonlight Cat. 29:14 Watch it on Tubi if you dare. 30:22 The Piano Recital. 31:27 Mac The Moon. 32:46 I'm sure Morgan Spurlock had something to do with that. 33:11 Yeah Thought so. 33:42 and he should've done 2 months one where he exercised, and one where he didn't. 38:00 good thing I ate.
@tron944
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Another childhood favorite, Ernest! From “Ernest goes to…” movies, at 44:38
@tron944
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Fries were the best back when they still used tallow to fry them in. Also, the apple pies were fried in that same tallow! Mmmm yummy!
@Mabledragonbern
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Omg! It was our Friday tradition to have McDonald’s and watch tgif. The best time was when we got the Dinosaur toys and watched Dinsaurs! Good times. McDonald’s felt like such a privilege. Now as a mom, it feels like a mom failure…like I’m broke, forgot to plan dinner….or we did something that gave me no time to make dinner and now I have get my kids shit to eat because we need something fat and easy. They like it…and see it as a treat. But only sort of I think.
@midoriblacksheep
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Back in the 80s, McDonald's was the coolest place to eat. It felt like a fantasy land
@Linux4ever_Leo
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
McDonald's is total shit now. Horrible food that looks nasty, sky high prices and rude workers. No thank you! Never eating there again.
@TxShoreDog
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
My dad managed 6 from '93-'96. One in the mall, one outside the mall, and a new one in Wal-Mart. Then 3 others in cities 30 minutes away. I was 11 in '96. Lots of cool toys and playplaces during that era still.
@TxShoreDog
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Hit the drive thru after the bar sounds incriminating 😅 been there though.
@lessismore8533
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
This place was SUPER CHEAP back then!
@alexandergonzie1200
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
I definitely remember having the time of my life climbing into that officer Big Mac head jail thing and the Hamburglar slide, both were indoors.
@movieforge01
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Is that where "what a kroc" comes from?
@PinkHairedChristian
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
My grandfather put the roof on of the first McDonalds in Michigan
@marcusp5345
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Should have had Fuhre McFlurry as a character. Missed opportunity.
@tonimoses793
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
These are so great!! Thank you for all the time effort you put into these videos❤ Such great memories!
@pepper-kh7ll
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
I remember it being a real treat like you mentioned but I think
MacDonalds is Masonic, clowns- Shriners, elites, unfortunately not the food I think we used to eat, it was prob always bad, came from meat that we don’t really know what it is
@lesliemartin3
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
This was before the dreaded Broken Ice Cream Machine saga of the 2000s.
@See_B_S
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
The food smelled and tasted better back then!
@CryssiesPlace
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
My favorite was in the McDonalds and You series… Baby Sister
@WoodsPrecisionArms
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
The one thing our generation lost was common friggin sense. McDonald’s is a treat not a lifestyle choice. You don’t use it as a staple of your diet.
@AuspexAO
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Great vid! I was born in 1978 and you rarely see anyone talk about the Gen X experience. I think our failure to stop our parents from kinda, well, ruining the entire world gave us kind of a stigma, ha ha.
@HazCatSophia
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
In the 90s, I always got a #2 with Diet Coke. There was a time when they sold I think 10 cheeseburgers for a low price.
@HazCatSophia
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
38:27 my dad always says, “just like McDonald’s, you get change back” every time a cashier gives him change.
@HazCatSophia
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
I hated when they stopped selling root beer.
@HazCatSophia
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
23:26 oh yeah, I absolutely know what comes next. 😊
@HazCatSophia
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
14:09 I was just thinking Sid and Marty Kroft created that commercial. Looked like HR Puffinstuff.
@back2s0ul
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
90s McDs was still pretty iconic for me. "Ronald makes it magic". I guess it all depends on when your childhood was. I'm sure 60s kids loved 60s McDs and 2000s kids loved 2000s McDs even if it wasn't at peak advertising. Just going out for food in itself feels like a treat when you're a kid, whether it's McDs on a random weekday or picking up Friday night pizza.
@rebeccaleathers7907
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
That last commercial with Bird and Jordan had me laughing…I was ready for them to say "over the river and through the woods".😂
@jmichellea4041
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
This was gold! Great video!
@TinFoilConsortium
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
that original store in Des Plaines (Locals use a hard S which is weird since we don't use the hard S for the state) was there until a few years ago as a sort of museum.
@Theospeak1
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
So glad for this, Natalie. For a while I got to remember growing up in America surrounded by proud Americans of every race, creed and color. I hope those days come back soon.
@Farren304
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
I just Door Dashed a Happy Meal to myself! Great memories ❤
@Iswis-w7r
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
4:03 greedy
@Eddunaway-qp5tv
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Rest in peace Ozzy Osbourne Cast Away at the age of 76
@Eddunaway-qp5tv
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Oh wow did you collect all the Dukes of Hazzard cars from McDonald's I did
@Eddunaway-qp5tv
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
I remember the hop soach commercials
@jeremymfontaine
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
How exactly did the McDLT differ from just.. a hamburger with lettuce and tomato?
@GingerBreadBeing
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
Sadly we Chicagolanders pronounce Des Plaines as is, with both s’s. Dehs Planes. De plane is what Tattoo says on fantasy island 😂
@eddierascalhaskell4954
April 13, 2026 at 10:40 pm
One of the McDonald's in our town had a mechanical Ronald in a hot air balloon bucket that told stories and sang songs with the Fry Guys every ten or so minutes. They kept that thing there til it broke down and half Ronald's face cracked off leaving him looking like the Terminator.
The good old days!!