Every brand is on the FIFA bandwagon right now. With the NBA Finals and the World Cup dominating the sports conversation, it feels like every fast-food chain, every retailer, and every corporation with a logo is trying to get a piece of the hype.
And of course McDonald’s, one of the world’s biggest brands, is no different. But not everyone is impressed with what they’re getting for their money.
McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Meal
In a trending video, content creator @fbazgan showed himself unboxing the cup that came with his McDonald’s FIFA World Cup meal, which ran him $17.39.
“I basically got it just for the cup,” he says.
@fbazgan shares that at the drive-through window, the employee handed him his bag, and he thought he was missing something.
“I was like, ‘Wait, I was supposed to get the cup.’ … He was like, ‘Oh, it’s in the bag,'” the TikToker recalls.
He was expecting a large collectible cup with a drink in it. What he got was a small plastic collectible cup in an opaque bag. He opens it on camera to see which player he got.
“Come on, Messi. Let’s see, Argentina? Something good?” he says, hoping for the player.
Instead, it’s a whole other player.
“It’s Beckham. OK, it’s England.” He pauses. “Of course they gotta put Beckham in here from, like, 20 years ago. You know, they couldn’t at least put like Harry Kane or somebody. But alright, it’s England. Even though I don’t think they’re gonna do very much.”
Commenters Aren’t Impressed
@fbazgan wasn’t alone in his disappointment. Commenters pointed out that promotional cups like this used to be free and that they used to be made of real glass. The plastic collectible tucked in a bag for nearly $18 wasn’t quite the same vibe.
“Cups like that used to be free when I was growing up,” a top comment read.
“That cup will last maybe 6 dishwasher cycles,” a person said.
“Remember the glass cups with the McDonald characters on them? My brother has a Hamburgler from my grandparents house,” another wrote.
What’s Actually In The McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Meal
According to TODAY, McDonald’s announced the FIFA World Cup collab on June 2, with meals available starting June 4.
There are two meal options: a breakfast version with a Sausage McMuffin with Egg or Sausage Egg Biscuit and hash browns and a lunch/dinner version with a Big Mac or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets. Both are served with a limited-edition gold-packaged Big Mac Sauce.
Each meal comes with one of nine collectible cups featuring soccer icons, including Christian Pulisic, David Beckham, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Thierry Henry, Son Heung-Min, Lamine Yamal, Alphonso Davies, Santiago Giménez, and Grimace, whom McDonald’s calls its “own certified legend.”
There’s also a Happy Meal version launching June 9 with 23 World Cup-themed Squishmallows plushies and a scannable code unlocking an exclusive digital game. A portion of every Happy Meal sold in the U.S. goes toward Ronald McDonald House families.
McDonald’s Collectible Cups Have Been A Thing Since The ’70s
The frustration over the cup makes more sense when you know what these promotions used to look like. According to Tasting Table, McDonald’s has been doing collectible cup promotions since at least 1976, when it gave away glass “Good Morning” mugs—made by American glassware company Anchor Hocking—for free to customers who ordered coffee and breakfast.
In 1983, McDonald’s released a series of 16-ounce Camp Snoopy glasses. In 1992, they did commemorative cups for the Dream Team that now sell for nearly $900 a set. The Jurassic Park cups from 1993 came free with the purchase of a large soft drink or a “dino-sized” extra value meal. These were glass, which made them feel more like actual collectibles.
BroBible reached out to @fbazgan for comment via TikTok direct message and comment and to McDonald’s via email. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.