Claim: McDonald's Halloween Happy Meals will contain Ouija boards this year.
|
FALSE |
In August 2014, rumors began to swirl that McDonald's would be offering a different Halloween-themed Happy Meal this year. Instead of the standard treat bucket Halloween Happy Meal, a Ouija board would be the season's McDonald's toy selection.
Pretty quickly, interest in the idea of a Happy Meal Ouija board picked up. While Ouija boards are readily available in toy stores, some people find them distasteful, occult-related, or otherwise offensive and inappropriate for children.
As it turns out, McDonald's Happy Meal Ouija boards started as a joke. It didn't take all that long to trace the rumor back to SyFy's Amy Bruni, who tweeted:
Lesson learned. Do not joke on Facebook that McDonalds is releasing a Ouija Board Happy Meal. ;)
— Amy Bruni (@amybruni) August 27, 2014
Bruni was making reference to this Facebook post from 26 August 2014 - later edited to emphasize a "winky face" emoticon:
Bruni's post on Facebook rapidly garnered nearly 4,000 shares, and she quickly addressed the escalating confusion:
Despite Bruni's quick action and continual assertion that the McDonald's Happy Meal Ouija board was a joke, several posters were unsettled by the notion. Many expressed concern that Ouija boards used "irresponsibly" could cause danger to children, while others were simply frightened by the idea of having a Ouija board in the house.
One commenter reported having had "bad experiences" with Ouija boards, and replied:
Current and upcoming McDonald's Happy Meal toy offerings are posted to the brand's Happy Meal subsite.
Last updated: 27 August 2014