When I was little I was always fascinated by the McDonald’s commercials that involved the McDonald’s characters. But some of their characters left me wondering how they would function in real life. Then when I got older I realized that they were only characters in an advertising campaign. However the fry kids were one of those characters I was wondering how they function without hands and arms? I remember back in the mid 90’s there was a bunch of McDonald’s commercials of them dancing or play soccer. Yet I wonder who was goalie and was the soccer ball blocked?

There is not a lot of information about the Fry kids. However they first appeared as early as 1972 and their original name was “French Fry Gobblins”.

The French Fry Gobblins first appeared in the McDonalds commercials and they were kind of creepy. There main goal in life as to steal other people’s fries.

Later as the other McDonald’s characters such as Grimace and the Hamburglar evolved. So did the French Fry Gobblins. Especially after Sid and Marty Krofft sued McDonald’s in 1973 for ripping off their work. It was super compared and had a very similar concept to Sid and Marty Krofft’s show H.R. Pufnstuf.

The lawsuit was stretched in court and final decisions were not made until 1979. And every McDonald’s character had to go through a massive makeover or disappear completely from the campaign. For the ” French Fry Gobblins” their transformation included getting ride of the creepy eye thing, they got shorten in height, became lesser shaggy, were made into different colors, and some had different facial features such as eye wear or eyelids. They got renamed “The Fry Guys” but later in 1985 they introduced girls into the line and they got renamed to the “The Fry Kids.”

The Fry Kids appeared in the McDonald’s campaign until 2008 and like the other McDonald’s characters where phased out of the McDonald’s promotion. I miss these McDonald’s characters because I feel like they were the most unique in the group. Although other than different colors and distinctions I do not remember if the Fry Kids had names of their own? In any regard I will always remember fondly of these cute but forever creepy characters.

What is your favorite McDonald’s character? Comment below!!

Source: Wikipedia, McDonald’s Wiki, Youtube.