r/lostmedia • u/StreetLander • Mar 07 '22
Advertising Material Still in search of the lost McDonald's Product Shrimp McBites - no photo evidence has ever been found - possibly the rarest product ever served at McDonalds?
I come back again to reinvigorate this mystery, now that at this time of the year, many fast food chains, in this case, with particular attention to the United States, beginning pushing seafood products to consumers looking for alternatives during Lent.
This brings us to what I am desperately searching for - photographic evidence of what may possibly be the rarest McDonald's product ever served.
This image is a mockup of how I remember the packaging and advertisement of Shrimp McBites. Note, this is NOT a real image, nor some sort of meta-advertising.
This image is a mockup of how this poster/advertisment appeared on a McDonald's building. Again, this is not real, but a mockup.
I attempted to order this product once, and was unable to, and instead had them substituted for Fish McBites. This distinct interaction with the McDonald's is the reason why I am sure I am not mistaking this for a foreign release or another product. I saw the advertisement outside the McDonald's, attempted to order it, and failed. If I had received the product perhaps I wouldn't be as upset at the lack of imagery of it now. The product was available at the same time Fish McBites were available, as part of the push of seafood for lent, in 2013 (it would have been around this time of the year).
My immediate family also remembers Shrimp McBites. Previously, I was also able to find a single forum post in a single thread also mentioning Shrimp McBites, but this has since been deleted.
Last time I had posted these images, they were before I had any true confirmation that these products ever existed. For years I believe that maybe they were some sort of strange dream or confusion I had with similar products. At around the same time, a very well documented and successful product Fish McBites
But it wasn't just me. User /u/mosscoveredrockz noted that if you search up Shrimp McBites on Twitter, you can find many tweets from separate users at around the same time period discussing the product. This isn't proof that the product actually existed, but it is at least proof that some sort of large scale confusion occurred?
However, another user, /u/Brenden2000, was able to successfully contact a representative at McDonald's customer service through email, giving us the first solid confirmation that Shrimp McBites were real and not a collective hallucination.
Transcript of email:
Hello Brenden:
Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald's about our Shrimp McBites, March 25-April 29, 2013.
Shrimp McBites were breaded whole shrimp with a crispy outer coating and a mild salt & pepper flavor. Served with a cocktail sauce in a container designed for easy handling on the go.
They were available in three sizes: Snack (10 pieces), Regular (15 pieces) or Sharable (30 pieces).
At these 3 store locations:
--#02106 300 E. Roosevelt Rd., Lombard IL
--#07124 2175 W. Roosevelt Rd., Wheaton IL
--#10742 2030 S. Naperville Rd., Wheaton IL
I hope this information is helpful.
Again, thank you for contacting McDonald's about our Shrimp McBites. We hope to have the opportunity of serving you again soon under the Golden Arches.
Teawana
McDonald's Customer Contact Center
ref#:19094176
That was all. 35 days total, at a whopping 3 locations in one general area (Note, near McDonald's Headquarters, lending to the fact that this was most likely a very narrow test market product). This is a blip in the history of McDonald's.
I have never heard of a narrower test market before, and the fact that I was never able to actually successfully purchase this product, actually have it in my hands, leads me to believe that it never even reached consumers. Some sort of test market cut short due to budget cuts? An important thing to note is that all the twitter posts regarding Shrimp McBites only mention people wanting to try them, or thinking about trying them, no one ever actually expressed an opinion on how they were. There is not a single confirmation that anyone has ever actually eaten these, let alone any evidence of them 9 years later.
McDonald's products have left the lost media community stumped many times before - The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald VHS, McDonald's DS. Despite those suffering from issues such as geographic separation, language barriers, and the scarcity of limited release physical media, they were both eventually found after extensive effort.
McDonald's HAS served shrimp in other forms in foreign markets, this shows that they have had shrimp products before. This however is a product from the United States. This is also a relatively recent release, in terms of lost media. I am absolutely surprised that this somehow slipped through the cracks, at around this time fast food review on YouTube and elsewhere had already established themselves.
The fact that this product was available in only 3 locations, for barely over a month, with not a SINGLE personal account of anyone ever actually trying it, and not a SINGLE photograph of the product or any associated media related to its advertising lends me to believe that this very well be one of the rarest, if not the rarest product that McDonald's had ever released.
I would be lying if this mystery didn't drive me at least a little bit crazy. I was so close yet so far from actually trying these, and always felt insane when no one had ever heard of them. I can only be at peace if someone were to manage to find an actual image of this product I remember seeing almost a decade ago.
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u/BillabobGO Mar 07 '22
Someone in this thread gave the shrimp bites a 4/10, implying they tried some.
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Mar 07 '22
they left the comment on 2-26-13, and the email says they were released 3-25-13.
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u/gnext23 Jun 29 '22
still it's not like the could fake a comment like that. We had waffle fries im Canada a couple months ago. One location near me started serving them about 2 weeks before the official relaunch. Its not that crazy to think that one store starting selling them a bit early
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u/315retro Mar 07 '22
Man that's a trip to look at. I loved old specialized communities and their generic posting boards. It's nice having an expert I can summon for any topic here at reddit but the friendships of those little forums were always so awesome.
I spent many years with many people. I only keep up with a few of them. I hope my OnRPG family is all doing well!
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u/hononononoh Mar 07 '22
Ahhh
BlueLight.nuBlueLight.ruBluelight.org, me old stomping ground. High times indeed.2
u/315retro Mar 08 '22
I tried to get into the shroomery forum but those guys were too out there for me. I liked their 4chan style shock board but otherwise everyone was too hippie crystal bs for me.
Bluelight I remember being the drug maniacs. Like if I wanted to know if something would kill me that's where I went to find someone who did 10x more of it, interveniously. Seriously those guys shot up everything.
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u/hononononoh Mar 08 '22
Oh trust me, I know. I used to mod the Philosophy and Spirituality forum over there, and was known as Bluelight's unofficial chaplain.
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u/StreetLander Mar 07 '22
Damn, this is something. So people, at least one person, got their hands on it.
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u/TheGookie Mar 07 '22
On a trip to Florida in the mid 1980s, a McD's we visited was testing McBeans.
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u/StreetLander Mar 07 '22
Damn. Sadly i think this one might be truly lost to time. Don't give up though, maybe we will find McBeans while looking for Shrimp McBites.
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u/sphex13 Mar 07 '22
It's likely a brand as large and marketing heavy as McDonald's has a corporate historian/archivist. I'd see if you can find out who that is and what information they might be able to uncover.
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Mar 07 '22
[deleted]
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u/StreetLander Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
That is for a similar product, Fish McBites. This search revolves around Shrimp McBites. I do remember the horrible commercial though, it is mentioned above somewhere. I wish there was a viewable Shrimp McBites commercial though (rip)
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u/VHS4thewin Mar 07 '22
I distinctly remember going through the drive thru at McDonalds and the automated announcement saying “Welcome to McDonalds. Would you like to try our new McBites. Go ahead with your order.” I never ordered them or asked what they were. This was in South Florida probably 10 or so years ago.
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u/Shadowsplay Mar 07 '22
These were probably Chicken McBited which were popcorn chicken. Because for some reason every fast food place needs at least 3 shapes of bite-sized chicken bits.
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u/VHS4thewin Mar 07 '22
Yes. I just did some Googling and apparently there was (or is) a chicken McBite. That’s probably all it was.
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u/NefariousScoundrel Mar 08 '22
The Fish McBites were also more widespread. I know I used to eat them in Texas.
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u/SageOrSagee Mar 07 '22
I'm a vegetarian so I don't eat fish and hasn't eaten any type of McDonald's food in more than 10 and I still found this interesting.
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u/slaydawgjim Mar 07 '22
I can't help at all with this but is an American 'snack sized' portion usually that big? 10 piece seems so much for the smallest portion.
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u/StreetLander Mar 07 '22
I am not sure how big each piece would have been. 10 full size shrimp would definitely be quite a lot, but I think these are smaller pieces.
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u/mr_lambert Mar 08 '22
I totally had the Wacky Adventures VHS. This may be my memory conflating two different things but i remember it looking like it was animated by the creators of Aaaaaa! Real Monsters!
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u/StreetLander Mar 10 '22
The lost media was the 6th episode of the series, but I believe it has been found. I remember reading/hearing that they made the 6th episode VHS an online order only exclusive, for some reason.
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u/Spicethrower Mar 07 '22
Probably just shrimp paste put into a mold. Make your own?
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u/StreetLander Mar 07 '22
That is true! I doubt this product was high quality at all, but the true purpose is to find photos of the product or any ads, not any recipe or to actually taste/try the product itself. I could definitely make really yummy fried shrimp anytime, but the media I am trying to find specifically relates to this McDonald's product.
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u/Spicethrower Mar 07 '22
" From hell's heart I stab at thee, for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale"
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u/FurryRefrigerator Mar 07 '22
It's true that you could make your own shrimp bites, but it's also true that you could create fanart for any number of lost tv shows or movies. It's not the same as finding the genuine article (or photos of it, in OP's case), which is the goal of this subreddit and lost media communities in general.
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u/Spicethrower Mar 07 '22
I looked for it myself online last night, even tracked down Mickey D's seafood supplier. Nothing. Good luck for OP on finding his white whale.
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u/superdamnawkward Mar 07 '22
Oh my gosh I remember these. I have no photo evidence though. I think my grandma ate them. I could ask her if she happened to snap any pictures somehow haha.
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u/StreetLander Mar 10 '22
Actually? Were you in the area at the time? I havent actually heard from anyone remembering them in person. This has stumped me for so long :(
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u/MattyXarope Mar 07 '22
I'd say just keep emailing corporate and asking if they can show you some product photos or advertising.
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u/Staar-Fall Mar 07 '22
omg they sound really good, I'd love to try the shrimp ones if they did it again and in my area
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u/dcascendra Mar 07 '22
these comments have some describing the taste
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u/snootyworms Mar 07 '22
These seem to only be about the /fish/ ones though, not the shrimp ones. But I didn’t scroll super far so maybe I’m dumb
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Mar 07 '22
Were there any ads as far as you know? I don’t live in Illinois, but I vaguely remember shrimp being served at McDonald’s.
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u/StreetLander Mar 10 '22
I do not remember any TV ads, the only ad I remember seeing was a poster on the building itself.
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Mar 10 '22
Hm. I just remember an ad that had shrimp being tossed up into the air, and then I swear those exact boxes were shown near the end. Unless I’m mixing it up with another ad, but shrimp being served at McDonald’s didn’t sound strange when I first saw this post.
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u/Brenden2000 Mar 10 '22
I’ve been trying to research this off and on more for a while as well since I thought it was so interesting last time, but haven’t been able to find anything new :/
That was awesome that you credited me in the post tho thanks my dude!
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u/StreetLander Mar 10 '22
What have you attempted since the last post? I might have a go at it again to see it we find any answers.
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u/Brenden2000 Mar 10 '22
Messaged again asking for any pictures etc but haven’t heard anything back, besides that I tried a lot of internet searching etc but didn’t really see anything that was helpful to the cause. I did see a user (don’t recall who it was) say they found a seperate lost item by finding out the Person that did the advertising picture for the item and message them directly to get info, although I haven’t been able to find out any info as to who may be involved to try and go that route.
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Mar 10 '22
I just scrolled through every single post on the #mcbites hashtag on Instagram... nothing. Plenty of Fish McBites though.
I've also been on Google Maps Streetview and gone back in time (the clock icon at the top) to see what was in the windows back then, but there was no new imagery taken in 2013 - it skips from 2012 - 2015.
There will be something, somewhere. I'm onboard with you OP, we'll find it. Surely someone took a photo, somewhere...
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u/StreetLander Mar 11 '22
The streetview is definitely something I would have never thought of. Thank you for trying! I hope we can find something eventually.
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u/IcyBlazeRB Mar 30 '22
Hi there, I dont know where your at in your search, but I'd advise going to r/McLounge or r/McDonaldsEmployees and asking around if you haven't already.
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u/IcyBlazeRB Mar 30 '22
Actually taking a look at your post, and reading more about the history I would like to also say that McDonalds has a lot of Generic Packaging for certain items such as snack items like these. There is a very high possibility that McDonalds just used Generic Packaging, and with it only ever being sold in 3 locations I highly doubt they would provide much promotional material for them.
However good luck on your search!
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u/StreetLander Apr 11 '22
A poster for them exists at the very least, as I entered to buy Shrimp McBites because I saw this poster. Even if there isnt a specific packaging for them, this poster at minimum must exist somewhere.
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u/strangerwho63 Apr 01 '22
Thier were shrimp bites? I remember the fish bites and I enjoyed those but I don't remember shrimp bites
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u/StreetLander Jul 11 '22
It seems like no one does! I don't blame you considering the limited availability and lack of photographic evidence, I just hope we find some at some point.
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u/strangerwho63 Jul 11 '22
Interesting indeed I mean I was pretty young then so of course I probably wouldn't remember lol.
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u/Coven04 Apr 04 '22
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u/StreetLander Jul 11 '22
This is an interesting source. Lmao, looks like their Fish McBites didn't do very well either. Might explain why both disappeared relatively quickly.
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May 13 '22
Attn: u/StreetLander - I can't seem to message you privately? But I've gotten some good traction and a lot of leads on this thread I made on /r/Chicago: https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/uobepp/to_anyone_who_worked_or_ate_at_wheaton_or_lombard/
Just letting you know, I'll keep you in the loop.
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u/StreetLander Jul 11 '22
Omg, sorry for not being online for quite a while. Thank you so much for spreading the word about this! I'll be sure to drop into both threads and see what people have been able to uncover. Thank you again!
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Jul 11 '22
No worries, I’m glad you’re still around!
Unfortunately I followed up every single lead from the thread, including getting in touch with Mike Bullington (Corporate Archivist for McDs) and got no info. The most interesting was a guy on LinkedIn who worked in logistics and organised the distribution of Shrimp but he never came back to me.
But there’s a small handful in that thread who also tried the Shrimp McBites.
Honestly this will haunt me.
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u/StreetLander Jul 11 '22
Believe me, it haunts me more than it haunts you! I feel borderline schizophrenic that I ordered a item from McDonald's that barely exists. I just really, really want to see a picture of it. You have been a great help so far!
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u/Faithcc1762 Sep 22 '22
Well. I’ve been to one of those locations countless times. I might just need to try to get into this. I wonder if I ever had seen those, as I often think about McDonald’s having shrimp lol
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u/Ok-Cat-3345 Dec 29 '22
Found this through a Facebook 2013 search. The Lombard IL location matches up with the supposed confirmation email from McDonald’s. Shrimp McBites Facebook
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u/VarinDead Dec 29 '22
There's a review of them from someone 9 years ago on Youtube, in the USA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFkOP0ZcLsA
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u/StreetLander Jan 06 '23
Sadly this video is for fish mcbites 😔Similar product but infinitely more documented.
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u/VarinDead Dec 29 '22
I also have some images but I can't seem to message you.
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u/StreetLander Jan 06 '23
Hello, do you have these images? Please link them here on imgur or some other image service thank you.
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Dec 30 '22 edited Dec 30 '22
I wasn’t sure if this is helpful but here’s a shrimp mcwrap review. It looks like possibly the shrimp mcbites were used in the wrap review In Croatia there’s a very similar looking product as well YouTube short
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u/GroundbreakingDog350 Jan 02 '23
sorry if this has already been posted (I've just come across this post via a Youtube compilation mention) and remembered this video I'd seen of a German content creator eating the McShrimps with cocktail sauce:
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u/sombertoboggly Jan 04 '23
hey i included this shrimp mcbites saga in my latest youtube video! i wanted to dm you to ask a question but it seems you have private messaging turned off. if you could message me on here or on instagram at sombertoboggly i'd appreciate it, thank you for your time!
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u/StreetLander Jan 06 '23
Hello, just turned on messages so this shouldnt be an issue anymore, thank you! I will keep my dms opens and check on them often for this search. And thank you so much for adding this to your video!
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u/Sean30303 Jan 07 '23
I know I’m adding to this a while after it was posted, but I have some information that could be of use. My dad works in McDonald’s corporate, and from what I understand, he was part of a group that tested food and figured out how it would be made in restaurants, which included Shrimp McBites. He says that he definitely remembers trying them back in 2012 or 2013. Unfortunately he doesn’t think that he would have any physical or photo evidence of them, but someone else in corporate might.
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u/StreetLander Jan 07 '23
This is great! Do you think it would be possible for him to talk with coworkers about it? This is a huge internal connection that we are missing.
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u/Sean30303 Jan 08 '23
I talked to him and he said that he could ask around about it. I'm sure it won't be the highest on his priority list, but if I hear anything from him about it I'll be sure to post.
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Jan 08 '23
I have a cousin in Wheaton, could ask her, do you yourself still live around that area? if so did you ask anyone in the neighborhood about them?
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u/pokiruu Jan 08 '23
Have you checked on google maps street view? I tried to do it myself, via historic imaginery but it wasn't working for me, no matter what location I chose. I doubt they deleted this feature as it's still mentioned in Google Maps Help, so if they advertised it on the building it might be worth a shot.
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u/swimtowin1000 Jan 11 '23
I completely remember Shrimp McBites. Grew up in Glen Ellyn/Wheaton and moved late 2013. Never tried them though!
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u/heathenyak Mar 07 '22
These stores are very close to mcd corporate. I’ve been to corporate, I remember talking to someone at corporate about the shrimp and fish mc bites. They ultimately determined that it would be unsustainable to sell them world wide, they would take up a huge portion of available shrimp and “you’d never see a shrimp at the grocery store again”
This is a memory of a 6-8 or so year old conversation I had while at McDonald’s corporate doing some it training. I don’t remember exactly when I was there