 This article is about a/an sponsor in the Power Rangers franchise.
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McDonald's is an American fast food restaurant company founded in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald and expanded into an empire under the leadership of businessman Ray Kroc in 1955. It is based in Oak Brook, Illinois and is one of the largest fast food chains in the world, with an investment of billions in the real estate of their franchise land properties alone and roughly 68 million people visit a McDonald's every day.
The company is also a major television commercial sponsor of children's programming, as McDonald's can gain a return profit by licensing specific shows to be made into their Happy Meal Toys to sell their meals to kids. In 1994, McDonald's made a deal with Saban to make Happy Meal Toys for the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and continued to make Power Rangers toys for various seasons of the TV show.
In 2007, Toei and TV Asahi signed a deal with McDonald's to sponsor their Sunday morning kids shows, including Super Sentai in 2011, for Happy Set Toys at their Japanese-based restaurants.
Happy Meal/Happy Set Commercials[]
Power Rangers[]
Mighty Morphin'[]
Power Coin Pogs Commercials[]
Commercial 1[]
"Power up! Save the world!"
A Putty lurks, waiting to get his hands on the Power Rangers (pog toys)
A shot of a McDonald's under a stormy sky is seen and then a bolt of lightning hits it, transforming it into a Megazord. The second half of the commercial sees the Power Rangers teleport in front of a McDonalds and promotion of the Pog toys. The announcer then tells the audience to "better hurry, as you aren't the only one looking for Power Rangers!" as a Putty Patroller is seen peering from behind the McDonald's.
Commercial 2[]
"I've got Lord Zedd! And the Blue Ranger, the Pink Ranger, Red Ranger..."
Zordon tells the Power Rangers that Power Coins are coming to Earth and the Rangers ask where they are located. Zordon replies that they are at McDonald's and advertises a sweepstakes event that was coinciding with the release of the toy Pogs. Certain lucky kids would get a special "Instant Win" Pog that would give winners a chance to meet the real Power Rangers among other prizes such as Power Rangers toys. A young boy finds a winning Pog and morphs into a Red Ranger costume, then is teleported outside the McDonald's to meet the Power Rangers. The White Ranger exclaims that he's got Lord Zedd, only to reveal he is just showing his own McDonald's Pog collection to the young boy.
This is the first commercial to feature the actual members of the show's cast voicing the characters in speaking roles: Jason David Frank, Amy Jo Johnson and Bob Manahan all voice their roles as the White Ranger, the Pink Ranger and Zordon respectively.
The Movie[]
Commercial 1[]
"Sir? You gonna eat all those fries?"
A camera shot of the Earth zooms in as the narration says that there is only force that can save the universe and the place to find it is at McDonald's with the teleportation streaks of the Rangers converging towards Earth and the beams form into the Golden Arches. In the second half of the commercial, a father and his son are leaving a McDonald's driveway only to be followed by the Falconzord. They stop in front of it and after the announcer advertises the toy action figures made to promote the film, the White Ranger asks the father if he is going to eat all of his fries. Tommy is voiced by an unknown voice actor, as it does not sound like Jason David Frank's voice.
Commercial 2[]
"Could you run that buckle thing by me again?"
A little boy is enthusiastically explaining the Power Rangers devices (the Happy Meal toys) to an unseen group, only for it to be revealed to be the Power Rangers with the Pink Ranger asking to talk about the toy buckle again as she didn't quite get that part.
Lightspeed Rescue[]
A family is eating at McDonald's and the older brother tries to steal his younger brother's french fries, only for the little brother to notice and block his hand with a Red Lightspeed Ranger toy. He then assembles the toy Lightspeed Megazord and asks his family if anyone else wants to try to steal his fries, but the intimidated family politely says no and backs off. The Lightspeed Rangers briefly pose in the McDonald's as the announcer advertises the toys.
Power Rangers Dino Thunder[]
A battle of the sexes ad as the male protagonists use their Happy Meal toys to compete against the girl's Totally Spies toys. This is the only commercial to feature no on-screen appearances from any Power Rangers.
Power Rangers Generations toys[]
A pair of kids are playing with their Power Rangers Happy Meal toys, only for a bully to appear and say that the Power Rangers are not so tough. The kids prove him wrong as the Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger and the Green Mystic Ranger appear and go into fighting poses, only for the bully to run away scared.
Power Rangers Samurai[]
The Samurai Megazord is walking through the city when the Rangers see a kid drinking milk and eating a McNugget inside the restaurant. Seeing the boy eating makes them hungry so the Red, Green and Blue Samurai Rangers decide to get lunch and the Samurai Megazord walks up to the drive-thru.
Power Rangers Super Samurai[]
An animated kid is on a farm doing chores and then enjoys a Happy Meal. The Red Samurai Ranger in Shark Attack Mode draws a red box outline and then the boy draws a yellow M and smile to make a drawing of a Happy Meal box. The Red Ranger makes a Happy Meal appear and the kid high-fives the Red Ranger. This is a rare instance where a Power Ranger is animated.
Power Rangers Megaforce[]
"You kids, keep your Megazord off my lawn!"
Five kids assemble their Happy Meal Zord toys into the Gosei Great Megazord, only for it to somehow transform into the real thing. The neighbor next door then complains for the kids to get their Megazord off his lawn.
Super Sentai[]
Gokaiger[]
A group of kids at a playground are eating lunch and opening their Dice-O trading card packs. Each time they open them and they announce what Ranger Dice-O card they got, an imaginary scene repeats where they pose like a Sentai Team on a cliff and explosions happen behind them. The Gokaigers then appear and GokaiRed says his catchphrase.
Go-Busters[]
A group of boys are watching someone suspicious come by and use their Go-Busters toys to throw off the intruder's balance and capture him, only for it to be revealed that it was the father of one of the boys. The first Super Sentai Happy Set toy commercial that featured none of the Rangers from the show in the ad's story.
Kyoryuger[]
Some children are playing with Kyoryuger Happy Set toys in a sandbox, they pretend that a monster is attacking the city and destroy it with the toy Kyoryuzin. The group high fives each other and a mysterious pair of hands, only for it to be revealed Kyoryu Red is in the sandbox with them, surprising everyone.
ToQger[]
Two brothers slide on the floor and lock onto their father's legs and the third brother locks onto his head. Ticket's voice is heard as the father rises from the floor in a manner similar to ToQ-Oh's transformation and slides across the floor carrying his kids and holding his newspaper to imitate ToQ-Oh's finisher.
Ninninger[]
Five kids hide behind a shoji doing the "Dare Ja?" sounds of the Ninja Ichibantou. When the shoji opens, they pose in front of a Grandfather and his Daughter. AkaNinger then appears and the kids leap into the air with AkaNinger.
Zyuohger[]
Three young boys are cosplaying as Yamato Kazakiri and are playing with Happy Meal toys of the Zyuoh Changer, Zyuoh King and the Cube Gorilla. Suddenly, Zyuoh Eagle descends from the sky and poses in front of the kids, surprising them and their parents.
Kyuranger[]
A group of kids are playing with their toys while eating lunch when a "Indaver" appears. One of the kids uses his toy Kyutama, which summons the real Shishi Red. They use their toys to "defeat" the Indaver, who turns out to be one kid's father in a paper mask pretending he got hit. This commercial ended with a logo commemorating 30 years of Happy Set Toys.
Lupinranger vs. Patranger[]
A group of kids play with thier Happy set toys, ending in them charging at each other and yelling as they pretend to be the competing Ranger teams. This is the first ad to not reference the show in any manner other than the toys and the third to not feature any Rangers.
Ryusoulger[]
See Also[]
Notes[]
- The Power Rangers Samurai toys were banned in Saudi Arabia due to the Blue Ranger figure offending religious groups for seemingly mocking the prophet Mohammad.[1]
External Links[]
McDonald's at Wikipedia.- Happy Meal site (English)
- Happy Set site (Japanese)
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References[]
Footnotes[]