BTS Fans Are Buying Everything McDonald’s Puts the Band’s Logo On (and We Don’t Just Mean Merch)

Brendan Menapace

We knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when.

After a couple of expansive (and expensive) merchandise collaborations with stars like Travis Scott and J. Balvin, McDonald’s finally released its collaboration with K-Pop sensations BTS. This one was a little different, in that BTS basically took over McDonald’s. Workers wore BTS-branded uniforms, and it was much more than just an excuse to sell some merchandise.

They went big.

The first thing we saw from this partnership was the branded meal, which is basically a regular McDonald’s meal but with some special BTS branding on packaging and sauce packets.

https://twitter.com/bornforV/status/1400117164053569537

Showbiz Cheat Sheet reported that, sort of like those limited edition sauces that “Rick and Morty” fans went nuts over, BTS fans are shelling out big money for resold food packaging, drink cups and dipping sauces on sites like eBay.

A quick search came up with people who obviously hoarded a few of the BTS meal’s sauce packets. It’s not totally unlike the people who sold McDonald’s Pokemon cards online, too. Even just the branded paper bag it came in is selling for $9.95. A cup alone is going for $18.99.

Even meal receipts, bereft of any branding at all, are going for hundreds of dollars.

One thing that McDonald’s has done here to appeal to the BTS ARMY is include printed photos, sort of like the ones the band includes with album releases.

All of this is wholly separate from the actual merchandise, mind you. Fans are already just that excited about sauce packets and meal bags, some of which are going for $200 on sites like eBay. The real appeal of the Travis Scott and J Balvin meals was the merchandise. BTS’ stardom was so big that the resale hype started before the first T-shirt saw the light of day.

This week, though, McDonald’s and BTS finally launched the Weverse shop, which includes items like sweatshirts, T-shirts and tote bags, all with that pretty attractive purple color scheme, and using fast food imagery to create the BTS logo out of things like fries.

It’s such a big deal that some aspects of the meal are sectioned into “Lunch Parties,” which is a great way to generate hype.

The previous meal collaborations were good. Heck, they were great. We haven’t seen a brand collaboration on that level in a long time. But, this might be the pinnacle for McDonald’s. BTS is one of the biggest brands (and bands) on the planet right now. Simply putting their logo on something meant to be thrown away immediately turns it into a collector’s item.

When was the last time you spent 8 bucks for a used paper bag from McDonald’s? Probably never!

This is the greatest example of how a logo can change everything.

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