McDonald's Is Hyping Up a New Sandwich With Its Own Merch Website

By Brendan Menapace

There was a time where McDonald’s threw shade at other fast food restaurants that blurred the line between food service and streetwear. We seem to remember a very tongue-in-cheek ad campaign, followed pretty closely by doing exactly the thing it made fun of.

Since then, it’s been all branded collaborations, limited releases as “drops,” and high price tags. The latest in that string of merchandise moves from McDonald's is a branded campaign complete with its own website as a way of advertising a new menu item.

Tomorrow at noon, customers can visit CHKNDrop.com (a nod to streetwear, skate brands and musical artists’ current love of omitting vowels from words) for a “limited-edition capsule.” The release includes early access to the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, a “never-before-heard audio track” on 7” vinyl created by Tay Keith, and a limited-edition hoodie.

Credit: McDonald's

The hoodie features a waveform of the vinyl track on the sleeve, and has that very barebones, plain-text print on the front that’s been all the rage since Kanye’s Yeezy drops.

“We know fans can’t wait for our new Crispy Chicken Sandwich to hit restaurants, so we’re celebrating them and this moment with a drop like no other,” David Tovar, McDonald’s vice president of U.S. communications, said in a press release. “We’re excited to give fans early access to this sandwich and exclusive swag they can’t get anywhere else to memorialize this great addition to our menu.”

A limited apparel run for a fast food restaurant isn’t anything new. But the design is right on the mark for McDonald's target audience. And a vinyl release, tied in with an apparel item and available on a limited-edition, dedicated website, is certainly a novel approach.

Considering the whole package is only $5, which is roughly the price of the sandwich on its own, it’s pretty much set in stone that this will sell out fast. These kinds of things always do.