In the early autumn of 2017 thousands of passionate fans flocked to their McDonalds’ with the expectations of having the chance to try the fabled Mulan Szechuan Sauce. What happened, however, was a lack of inventory, fan disappointment, and the murdering of fandom that was just starting to grow.

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Apparently, the meaning of a “limited-time” offer doesn’t mean anything anymore. Back in 1998, the mega fast-food giant McDonald’s released the Szechuan sauce as a promotional item for Walt Disney’s Mulan. After the promotion of the film was over, McDonald’s quietly got rid of it and nobody batted an eye. People understood that it wasn’t going to be around forever or just really didn’t care because it is literally just a dipping sauce. Fast-food forward to 2017 and boom, a popular show on Adult Swim, Rick and Morty, shows it’s title character Rick has a strong affection for The aforementioned sauce and it has been his life l-long quest to find more. The fans and creators tweet at McDonald’s who then brings it back for a limited-time again hoping to get some publicity and sales. They did get both but not to the extent they were imagining. Thousands of people young and middle aged, flocked to restaurants trying to get their hands on this sauce only to find that some either didn’t carry it or had run out because of the massive amounts of people that were swarming McCafe.

Secondly, the fans over-hyped a very simple thing that caused their own disappointment. It is just a sauce people! A sauce mentioned in an adult cartoon show. You can’t expect McDonald’s to prepare for something such as the Szechuan epidemic. Can we blame them for trying to appeal to the ever-expanding internet culture that seems to be becoming increasingly volatile? It’s just a corporation trying to stay “woke” one shouldn’t get mad at these people.

 

Finally, Pickle Rick. There is little more to say than those two words when one talks about what occurred last fall. Pickle Rick is the pickle version of Rick who quickly became a fan favorite. At one of the McDonalds’ a person jumped up on top of the counter and demanded Szechuan Sauce whilst calling himself Pickle Rick. This spurred a small riot that didn’t amount to any violence but was definitely hell for the employees. Not only that but, you have now some fans of the show who are embarrassed because it’s now associated with crazy people who deem themselves “intellectuals” and jump on counter-tops. Showing your love for your favorite show is completely okay. It’s your first amendment right in fact. 

In short, Rick and Morty actually is a very excellent television program. It has a lot of charm and the themes are nice and dark at the same time. There should be a different way to show one’s love for their favorite show than yelling at a corporation to sell something that they haven’t sold in twenty years. Let this be lesson to all fandoms that if you become overly annoying and aggressive no one else will want to watch your show even if it happens to be good.