Why McDonald’s Launched Burger-Scented Candles
Don’t underestimate the power of brand merchandise
Recently, the live stream “Melting the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder Candles Together” was hosted by a former Buzzfeed video producer turned popular YouTube content creator, Safiya Nygaard.
Instantly, I was intrigued — who wouldn’t be? McDonald’s does fast food, not fragrance. The combination of these two worlds seemed absurd, so I tuned it.
As the live stream progressed and a box sporting the iconic McDonald’s golden arches logo opened to reveal a set of candles with names like “Onion” and “100% Fresh Beef,” a frenzy of questions popped into the chat.
What the heck are these? Why do they exist? Where can I get them?
I needed to find out too, and in my search, I stumbled across a (pre-pandemic) 2020 McDonald’s marketing campaign dedicated to one of the franchise’s beloved burgers.
What Is the McDonald’s Candle Set?
According to a press release from February of 2020, the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder Candle Pack was created as part of the “Quarter Pounder Fan Club,” a limited collection of burger-themed merchandise to honor the Quarter Pounder’s 50 years on the menu.
The Quarter Pounder Candle Pack was a set of six candles, and each one in the pack smelled like an ingredient in a Quarter Pounder: sesame seed bun, beef, cheese, ketchup, pickles, and onion. The candles could be lit individually or at the same time (or melted together to create one mega candle as in the YouTube video that started my deep dive). When burnt simultaneously, the combination of fragrances was supposed to create an aroma that resembles the scent of the pack’s namesake burger.
Other McDonald’s branded items in the collection were couples mittens, calendars, heart-shaped lockets, T-shirts, pins, and “I’d Rather Be Eating a Quarter Pounder” stickers. The limited-edition line of merch sold out — even the candles.
But Why Candles?
McDonald’s has a history of using merchandise to create strong connections between customers and the brand. McDonald’s sold board games in the 70s and made a kids clothing line called McKid’s in the 90s. Making merchandise out of items with a somewhat obscure connection to the brand but relevance to its audience is a frequently used tactic in the golden arches’ playbook.
McDonald’s partnered with five experts in the brand merchandising industry to develop the concept and execute the “Quarter Pounder Fan Club” in 2020. According to statements from members of this team, merchandise can be more powerful than digital advertising. It creates tangible connections and personal billboards.
One of the marketing partners McDonald’s collaborated with to create the Quarter Pounder Candle Pack shared that “there’s an alchemy to expressing the essence of a brand in a physical object that captures the hearts and minds of that brand’s target demographic. When that’s done right, you get a magnificently powerful advertising tool that transforms customers into brand evangelists.”
If you think about it, McDonald’s burger-scented candles do exactly that. While pickle and onion fragrance candles might not be conventionally appealing, the merchandise makes total sense (no pun intended) for Mickey-D’s.
McDonald’s is infamous for the Happy Meal, but as a brand, it doesn’t try to cater specifically to kids anymore. The brand’s spirit is still whimsical, fun, and sometimes even satirical, but its voice is now more adult to reflect its current target audience.
Most of McDonald’s advertising focuses on the dollar value of its meals or the ease of purchasing food from one of its locations during a commute. The McDonald’s social media accounts, Twitter and Instagram, post and interact with other users on the platforms as if the brand is an exasperated millennial.
With all this in mind, what could be more on par with McDonald’s spirit and the interests of its audience than subverting the candle, a quintessential symbol in adulthood, by making a candle pack that smells like Quarter Pounder parts?
The unexpected idea captures the audience’s mind, the experience offered by the gimmick captures the heart, and the concept reflects the brand’s essence.
“Because there’s no better smell than 100% fresh beef and a perfect combination of toppings.” — McDonald’s USA
It was incredibly clever for a fast-food chain to use scents to create physical merchandise. The way food from certain restaurants smells is a feature nearly as identifiable to that franchise as its logo. McDonald’s played into this concept with its candle line. McDonald’s infusing the Quarter Pounder’s signature scent into candles offers a unique experience for its audience that’s universal to the brand.
McDonald’s marketing campaigns are like no other in their ability to catch and hold the public’s attention. (Although, I might be biased because of the time I received a Ronald McDonald scholarship and had my face turned into a very embarrassing promo poster that went into every McDonald’s in my state.)
Even though the Quarter Pounder Candle Pack is no longer for sale, this promotion’s publicity is ongoing. That’s the power of creative merchandise. The concept still intrigues people today, more than a year after its launch. Over 12 thousand people watched Safiya Nygaard’s live stream about turning the individual candles into one large McDonald’s candle.
I will admit that I don’t personally find the idea of burning a burger-candle pack appealing as a buyer, but from a marketing standpoint, well, you could say I’m lovin’ it.
