The Failed McDonald's Menu Item That Celebrated 50 Years Of The Filet-O-Fish

While McDonald's existed before the first CEO, Ray Kroc, betrayed the original founders in 1961, it was under his governance that the company really flourished, spreading far and wide. It was through Kroc's leadership, too, that the fast food chain began its long history of experimenting with new menu items, some of which — like the now-ubiquitous Chicken McNuggets — succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, and others which were not quite so successful. One major win for McDonald's was the Filet-O-Fish. Fifty years after it was first released, McDonald's sought to capitalize on the sandwich's popularity by introducing Fish McBites, but they were an almost immediate fail.

There can be no faulting the McBites' engineering; they were perfectly (as their name suggests) bite-sized, flaky on the inside, with a nice crispy exterior, and only a mild fishiness, thanks to the wild-caught pollock from Alaska of which they consisted, and they came with accompanying containers of tartar sauce for dipping. But for whatever reason, they didn't catch on, and customers seemed underwhelmed by the whole thing. Released in February of 2013, right around Lent, they were removed from the menus completely by April of that same year, so that in total, they spent a whopping two months available to a public who simply did not want them.

When McDonald's introduces a new menu item, it tends to go all-in with the marketing and advertising, and that was certainly the case for the release of its Fish McBites. One of McDonald's ad agencies at the time, Burrell Communications, was charged with creating a campaign around the popcorn fish product, and they partnered with jingle creator Sonixphere to dream up the truly unforgettable Fishy Fishy song. The ultra-catchy song was paired with a limbed, dancing, and rapping Fish McBite, who rocked out to the tune courtesy of his (its?) old-school boombox.

There was another ad that featured the Fishy Fishy song, too, and this one contained a cartoon boy wearing a winter hat, with a cartoon biped goat. The commercial aimed to get kids on board with the fish nuggets, since it suggested how you could customize your McBites Happy Meal, and it is fondly remembered by many on the Internet.

If mention of the McBites ads takes you back, and you have a craving for seafood from McDonald's that isn't the Filet-O-Fish, you might be interested to learn that a very similar product exists in some McDonald's restaurants in Ireland. If you can spare the plane fare, you might try your luck on the Emerald Isle, where a limited number of locations sell Fish Bites.