The year was 1974. Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign, $1 had the purchasing power of $6.49 today, and songs like “Waterloo” by ABBA and “The Joker” by the Steve Miller Band dominated radio airwaves. Space Cowboys near and far were jonesing for Big Macs — which, in 1974, cost just $0.65.
Dominating the television waves was the iconic Big Mac jingle of 1974, which is about as literal as a song can be. McDonald’s commercials of the era cheerfully sang, “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun,” repeating the jingle five times within the ad’s 60-second span. This was a memory-snatching tool that totally worked. Even though the ad only ran through 1976, comments on a YouTube video of the ad show how well people still remember the jingle. “Amazing someone was asking about the Big Mac song and after 51 yrs I can recite the song from memory,” one user wrote, with others sharing similar sentiments.
For being something of a tongue-twister, the jingle was no less catchy. It was so widely beloved, in fact, that at select Mickey D’s locations during the ad campaign’s active airtime, patrons who could recite the jingle in less than four seconds would receive a free burger. In densely populated cities with residents crazed with hunger (and a fearsome earworm), demand even outnumbered the supply. Some New York City McDonald’s locations ran out of the Big Mac’s signature sesame seed buns.
Order (or sing) two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun
The jingle that captured ’70s foodies’ hearts (and bellies) was written by Keith Reinhard, Chairman Emeritus of New York City-based global advertising network DDB Worldwide. Reinhard and company set the words to music composed by Mark Vieha, who can be heard singing in the original commercial. Reinhard also created the Hamburglar, and his creative team also wrote State Farm’s iconic “Like A Good Neighbor, State Farm is There” jingle.
Among other fun facts about the Big Mac, the sandwich first launched nationwide in 1968 and was created by Pennsylvania-based McDonald’s franchisee Jim Delligatti, who changed Mickey D’s history by refusing to play by the rules. As his concept wouldn’t fit on McDonald’s standard-sized buns, Delligatti grabbed a batch of larger sesame seed buns from a local bakery (defying company orders to only use McDonald’s ingredients), and the rest is history. Delligatti also invented the “special sauce” named in the Big Mac’s jingle, ate at least one Big Mac per week for decades (as his son told CBS News), and lived to be 98 years old.
More than a jingle, the 1974 Big Mac tune was a pop culture icon that left its mark at the intersection of music and humor, while simultaneously delivering information about the product. This triumph of marketing was preceded by McDonald’s “You Deserve a Break Today” ad campaign of 1971 and followed by the launch of the Happy Meal in 1979.
