Within the greater world of TikTok is #FoodTok, a niche subsection dedicated to all things related to food. There's step-by-step tutorials for quick and easy weeknight recipes. There's visual restaurant reviews. There's a new genre of food-themed thirst trap videos, which feature male cooks stripping and slapping thick mounds of dough. It's a weird, wild corner of the internet — making it the perfect place for the ongoing Great Shake-Down between Grimace and Barbie.
You've seen the videos: A customer records themselves before and after taste-testing one of these pop-culture themed milkshakes. It all started with McDonald's "Grimace Shake," a berry-flavored milkshake that was released as part of the Grimace Birthday Meal promotion. The franchise's big purple mascot, who was formally introduced in 1971, celebrated turning 52 years of age on June 12. Grimace himself has been described as the "embodiment" of a milkshake, while other speculate that he's actually just a sentient taste bud. Regardless, his wide smile, big google eyes and cuddly persona have earned him a large fan base.
