McDonald’s Top 5 ‘McMisses’

McDonald's had breakfast covered with the Egg McMuffin and lunch was covered with the Big Mac, but what were die-hard McDonald's fans supposed to do for dinner? McDonald's tried to solve the dilemma in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the McPizza. But the McPizza, Mcfailed! McDonald's customers who were used to fast service and were irritated by the long wait times for made-to-order pizza. McPizza, Miss #2

In 1996, McDonald's wanted to broaden its image, so it launched a special advertising campaign geared toward adults. Executives at Mickey D's were very excited about the new adult sandwich and spent $100 million on the campaign. This campaign was directed toward adults instead of children. This new burger, named the Arch Deluxe, was supposed to appeal to adult tastes with a secret mustard-mayonnaise sauce. Well as you might guess, the Arch Deluxe was McDonald's most expensive failure – Miss #3.

Way before the “Super Size Me” documentary, health professionals were attacking McDonald's for what they considered an unhealthy menu. So to quieten the critics and please the health-conscious crowd, McDonald's unveiled the McLean Deluxe in 1991. This burger was 91 percent fat free; it had 10 grams of fat compared to the Big Mac's 26. The secret ingredient – seaweed. YUCK! Seaweed was used to replace some of the fat content with water. But folks could not get over the awful taste. The result was a dry burger that was later called “the McFlopper.”

This one takes the cake, or burger in this instance. McDonald's has released some themed sandwiches throughout the world. One example is the McArabia — a flatbread sandwich with chicken, salad and garlic sauce — released in Arab countries and in Egypt to help stop a boycott of American products in response to the Iraq War. But the company made a major boo-boo with a different sandwich. This sandwich was released in Norway in 2002 and called the McAfrica. It was beef and veggies in pita bread. It tasted okay, but critics claimed the sandwich was released at a very bad time. McDonald's just so happened to release the sandwich at a time when massive famine was occurring in Africa. After being attacked as insensitive, McDonald's agreed to roll back on its plans for the sandwich and kept donation boxes for hunger-relief charities at the restaurants that did offer it. BIG Miss #5.