Is McDonald's Bringing Back All-Day Breakfast? A Cryptic Video Has Everyone Guessing
Faced with negative customer impacts during a recent E. coli outbreak, McDonald's has been actively searching for positive press ... and the fast food chain may have found it. A mysterious (but very cute) short video posted on McDonald's social media has fans of the Golden Arches playing guessing games. As seen on X (formerly Twitter), the seven-second animated clip shows a half-eaten hashbrown in the corner, with a pink hand reaching for a cup of coffee. When the cup is moved, there is a coffee ring on the purple background sporting a smiley face. Perhaps most tellingly, there is only one other feature of the video: the date of 11/18 stamped in the lower right
McDonald's is no stranger to a viral moment. Remember when its now-discontinued Szechuan sauce made pop culture history? The more recent video clip is undoubtedly a clue to something, and was meant to get people talking about what it could mean. There's no hard proof, but one popular theory floating around posits that maybe McDonald's is bringing back its beloved all-day breakfast menu.
Separating fact from fiction
From 2015 until 2020, McDonald's served an all-day breakfast menu that was wildly popular. The menu got the ax at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other favorites like fresh salads and grilled chicken sandwiches, in an attempt to simplify restaurant operations. Is the cheeky social media video an Easter egg teasing the idea that all-day breakfast is coming back? That's what some of the anchors on CBS News speculated, to great excitement. Who doesn't love the idea of being able to mix breakfast faves like the Sausage McGriddle with lunch and dinner exclusives like french fries and McFlurries?
However, that same video may cast some doubt. On November 18th — the same date referenced in the clip — McDonald's has previously announced that it would be offering users of its mobile app 63-cent Egg McMuffins during breakfast hours, in honor of the iconic sandwich's 50th anniversary. Was McDonald's reinforcing the hype over cheap McMuffins, or alluding to a new promotion entirely? With just a few days to go until the 18th, only time will tell.