What is the BTS Meal?

This collaboration has been trending since its announcement in April. ARMY (BTS’ fans club), of course, are already Einsteins of everything there is to know about it. Though, for casual McDonald’s customers, it might be surprising to suddenly see purple decorations on our favorite Big Mac joints.

Well, don’t fret, we’re here to give you all of the information there is to know about the BTS meal.

Quick overview, the BTS meal is part of McDonald’s Famous Orders program where their featured artist basically creates a meal set of their favorites and have it named after them for a period of time—like J Balvin’s meal set of Big Mac, fries, and Oreo McFlurry which was released in the US last year.

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This time, the BTS meal brought in something new. Taking the classic fries and nuggets combo, they’ve included two unique-flavored dipping sauces from McDonald’s South Korea and had them available all over the world. The BTS meal set includes 10-piece nuggets, medium fries, and coke with two sauces—sweet chili and cajun flavor. Sweet Chili is a reddish sauce that greets your tongue with sweetness then follows it with a kick of spiciness. On the contrary, Cajun sauce resembles the creamy honey mustard we all know but with more piquancy than usual. This new meal introduces two sauces, offering new ways to enjoy our staple favorites.

In line with the band’s current aesthetic, the meal’s official packagings (paper bag, cup, and box) are decorated with millennial purple, featuring the BTS logo, and the famous phrase: 보라해 (“Borahae” or “I purple you”) which is an expression made by the band member V combining the words 보라 (“bora,” purple) and 사랑해 (“saranghae,” I love you). Unfortunately, only the paperbag is available in the US with a bit of a lottery in acquiring.

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Like previous artist collaborations, BTS also has its limited edition merchandise with the franchise. Sold in their fan-community app, Weverse Shop, are bathrobes, socks, hoodies, umbrellas, and more! They also include photocards which weren't initially part of the release but were later added due to—what fans believe—a “phone call” that Jin had with McDonald’s in an interview. However, the photocards are only available to those who purchased the merchandise.

What seems to be just another artist collaboration is actually a new league for McDonald’s with the franchise creating a lot of their firsts. This is their first Famous Order meal sold globally. In its app, McDonald’s is releasing “never-before-scene digital surprises each week” of the artist for US fans which was also haven’t done before. In an interview, McDonald’s U.S. chief marketing officer Morgan Flatley said they have also incorporated KPOP song release tactics for this collaboration such as the gradual rolling out of concept photos, release dates, and merch collection. Even going as far as creating new crew shirts with written BTS and McDonald’s in Hangul (Korean alphabet) for the promotion.

The event is ongoing with more countries still to receive the purple love in the coming weeks. But in the essence of purple love, not much can be said for the BTS’ U.S. fanbase caused by the unavailability of the whole purple packaging which has negatively affected their experience. Although McDonald’s have gone above and beyond in promoting it, at the end of the day, it still boils down to the meal. Unlike the previous Famous Orders, there was a minor letdown due to the absence of burgers which is, let’s be honest, the heart of any McDonald’s meal. Still, the introduction of the two new sauces could still probably wind up casual customers into buying it. Well, it’s all for us to decide. If the customer deems it’s worth it, then it’s worth it.