The BTS meal, released in Canada on May 26, is a collaboration between McDonald’s and the wildly popular Korean boy-band, BTS. This limited-time meal consists of a 10 piece Chicken McNugget, medium fry, medium fountain drink, and two exclusive new sauces, Sweet Chili and Cajun — oh, and some photogenic, branded packaging. The packaging follows a pastel lavender theme (purple being the official colour of BTS) with the BTS and McDonald’s logo, giving buyers an Instagrammable meal that sets a theme: style, but no substance.
Now, the hype around this meal is real to an absurd degree. The purple-themed special packaging is currently being coveted and sold for ridiculous amounts on eBay — think $70 CAD for a cup or $15 CAD for empty sauce cartons. Indonesian restaurants are also being overrun, descending into chaos as long queues form and food delivery drivers crowd counters. These restaurants had to be temporarily closed by police en masse due to an overload of orders and a fear of spreading COVID-19.
Now, I swear I went into this meal without bias, but in the end there wasn’t much to review. It’s McNuggets and fries; they’ve been available at McDonald’s for forever and nothing was changed up about them. There was no merchandise included with the meal, and the only thing that really made the food feel BTS-themed was the sauces (apparently, BTS picked these sauces themselves). Unfortunately, they were both mediocre. The Cajun sauce offered a basic honey-mustard flavour profile but with a little more acidity, and the Thai Chili was sweet and sour but lacked any hint of a kick. Overall, the meal feels underwhelming and overhyped due to the BTS name and advertising, especially since it’s made up of two sides and not a burger which would have left more room for originality and creativity.
How could the BTS meal be made better? Consistent packaging would be nice, since the branding is essentially what you’re paying for; some fans were missing part of the meal’s special packaging, and others didn’t receive any at all. It’s also been noted by other reviewers that McDonalds went extremely safe with the BTS meal, and it ends up feeling only slightly influenced by Korea, a culture with cuisine known for its unique and powerful flavours. If they had made a kimchi-inspired sauce or a sauce with gochujang (red pepper paste), I would have been all over it. It would have also worked well to feature a Korean BBQ burger or a bibimbap-inspired salad. If it’s a celebrity-collaborated meal, I feel like consumers want something unique and special, not just fries and McNuggets thrown together and branded for a limited time. By trying to appeal to the masses, McDonald’s lost an opportunity to create a genuinely interesting meal that could have offered something new.
McDonald’s could have also had better advertising. Their billboards, featuring just a purple background and the food, don’t make it immediately clear who BTS or their brand is. Maybe if each meal came with a stock card with BTS’ photo, signatures, and an explanation for their inspiration behind the meal, it would have felt more personable, accessible, and BTS-specific. But also, where are the cute boys that the band is known for? Why are they not capitalizing on this eye candy to draw in customers? Physical store locations don’t seem to have any themed decorations for their lobbies or counters, and the BTS merchandise at McDonald’s is only sold online instead of being available and visible in stores.
What feels odd about the meal is, despite how popular BTS actually is (they’re the first K-pop band to ever top U.S. album charts, let alone multiple times), they feel like a niche celebrity group to base an international meal on. When I ordered the meal in front of an older family friend, they told me they thought BTS stood for Bacon Tomato Sauce or something to that nature. Unless you’re well-versed in modern pop music, it isn’t obvious who BTS is from McDonald’s advertising. However, this doesn’t seem to stop the BTS Army (a name for BTS fans) from mass buying the product and showing their support, so maybe I’m just not appreciating the genius of exploiting such a loyal fanbase.
McDonald’s collaboration with celebrities to create combo meals seems like a recurring and successful theme, especially since the Travis Scott meal did exceptionally well. The roll-out of these meals show no sign of stopping, but we can only hope that McDonald’s learns along the way that publicity and celebrity endorsement can go only so far without having some originality to go along with it.
Chandy is a biology major/chemistry minor who's been a staff writer, Arts editor, and Managing Editor at The Cascade. She began writing in elementary school when she produced Tamagotchi fanfiction to show her peers at school -- she now lives in fear that this may have been her creative peak.
