Images of McDonald’s satanic-themed Happy Meal are AI-generated

McDonald’s is the latest company to be accused of selling satanic-themed products. 

People across various social media networks are sharing an image of what appears to be a McDonald’s Happy Meal box. On the box, there’s an image of a black-bunned burger and McDonald’s signature arches. The text across the meal box says “Baphomet.” A figurine of a horned beast with wings wearing a pentagram belt is posed next to the box. 

Other social media posts share images of a different satanic-themed box, but in this one, the Happy Meal box comes with a Baphomet plush toy. Baphomet is the name of the goat symbol associated with The Satanic Temple and the occult.

Several TikTok users shared the images; some wondered whether it’s real, while others questioned if they should still be supporting McDonald’s. “Baphomet Happy Meal” is also a trending Google search topic.

THE QUESTION

Is McDonald’s selling a satanic-themed Happy Meal?

THE SOURCES

• A McDonald's spokesperson
• Search of the McDonald’s website
• X post by @AmericaReal3
• Google Lens, a reverse image tool

THE ANSWER

No, McDonald’s is not selling a satanic-themed Happy Meal. The viral images were generated by artificial intelligence. 

Sign up for the VERIFY Fast Facts newsletter here. 

WHAT WE FOUND

The images being shared that appear to show a McDonald’s Happy Meal  displaying satanic imagery complete with satanic-themed toys are not real. They were made with generative AI. 

A McDonald’s spokesperson confirmed to VERIFY, “This is a fake image. This is not a McDonald’s product.”

VERIFY also searched McDonald’s website and found no products that resemble the satanic-themed meal boxes seen in any of the images or videos shared across social media. According to McDonald’s website, most chains are providing UNO card game-themed items in Happy Meals until May 7  –  not anything satanic.

We conducted a reverse image search to find the earliest instance of the image with the dark “Baphomet” meal box online and traced it to a March 27 X post from user @AmericaReal3. “New McDonald's Happy Meal Your kids will LoVe It,” the caption reads. 

In response to one commenter on the post, @AmericaReal3 wrote, “It’s just an Ai [sic] joke.” VERIFY found two other replies in the comment section where @AmericaReal3 wrote that the image was created as a joke.

VERIFY reached out to @AmericaReal3 to confirm whether they are the original creator of the AI images but did not hear back at the time of publication.

VERIFY took a closer look at the image and noticed a few indicators that it could be fake. For example, Happy Meal boxes usually come with a handle on top that resembles the McDonald's "M" logo, the arches on the side of the box are misshapen, and the “m” in the “Baphomet” text on the box has an extra line.

McDonald’s isn’t the only chain to recently come under scrutiny after satanic-themed images went viral. We recently VERIFIED images appearing to show satanic clothing apparel purportedly sold by Target were also created with AI.