This is the "Gold Ring" Quarter Pounder. Priced at 1,000 yen, it was only available for one day, this past Saturday. The burger was inspired by jewelry. Because jewelry tastes delicious?
McDonald's always had yummy-looking hamburgers in its promotional images—and less delicious-looking ones in real life. But if you are paying ten bucks for a burger, you want it to look like a ten-dollar burger, no?
The below image is the Japanese equivalent of the "Expectations vs. Reality" meme. Some of the Gold Ring burgers actually looked okay—it really seemed to depend on where the burgers were prepared as well as who took the photos.
The Gold Ring Quarter Pounder was stuffed with two bacon slices and pineapple. As Gigazine shows, the burger came in a special little box (that was inside a box), a deluxe bag with a ribbon, and a fact sheet.
That's right, a fact sheet.
Those who wanted fries and a medium drink needed to cough up a total of 1,200 yen (about US$12) for the meal deal.
One McDonald's even had an embarrassing "V.I.P. seat" for customers who shelled out for the special, 849 calorie Quarter Pounder.
Online in Japan, people pointed out that with the same 1,000 yen what you could buy this much food:
Many felt like this Quarter Pounder seemed overpriced! "Normal Quarter Pounder cheese tastes better," wrote one commenter on 2ch, Japan's largest forum.
"The box probably cost 850 yen," wrote another. "It probably uses the same pickles as the 100 yen burger," wrote one Twitter user.
The burger did have its fans, with people on Twitter saying it was a tasty burger.
If you missed the Gold Ring, fret not, McDonald's Japan is rolling out two more pricy, one-day only Quarter Pounders: the Black Diamond Quarter Pounder on Brioche with truffle sauce on July 13 and the Ruby Spark Quarter Pounder with chorizo and avocado on July 20.
Photos: yamaguty, ShinoClear, kradness55, Gigazine, Mob_Character_A, mistclast, GetNews
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