YumChums (partially lost British McDonald's TV commercials; 2004)

Combined pictures from McDonald's brochure.

Status: Partially Lost

YumChums are a series of advertisements created by McDonald's UK, which aired between 2004 and 2005. Unusual for the fast-food chain, these advertisements had little to do with their brand but focused more on healthy lifestyles, targeted towards younger children. This campaign also introduced a group of colourful characters, referred to as YumChums.

Overview

Every advert would have a premise; the viewer would be introduced to Ronald McDonald doing an activity in a playroom, similar to one found in a youth centre. Upon hearing a strange noise, he would tell the viewers that they are his YumChums, who live inside of him. Ronald would then proceed to rub his stomach and ask himself "yum yum, what's going on in my tum?"

Following this live-action segment, the screen fades to black. The void would then show a few cartoon eyes filling the screen making comments if they're ready. After this, the darkness would then fade into a colourful world featuring the YumChum gang, including:

• A purple, blobby character clad in skateboarding gear.
• A mermaid-esque creature with a spiky hairstyle.
• A stumpy green creature wearing rounded glasses.
• A round, bigfoot-like monster.
• A blue bouncy ball with a backwards cap.

These characters would perform one of the following songs below:

• Too Many Treats: (Found) This advert had the characters playing as if they were in a playground while singing a song about treats. Originally being used as an intro to each of the three songs below, it was later used as a standalone advert in 2005. The advert was recovered on April 24, 2021, by YouTuber "{insert channel name here}".

A screenshot from the 5 a day ad.

• 5 a Day: (Partially Lost) This advert involves the group of characters turning into fruit and vegetables, high-fiving each other, and singing about eating 5 food groups a day. One notable part involves the big monster character growing an apple stem on top of its head. The original 2004 version of the advert ended with Ronald telling the viewers that "the YumChums will be back with more adventures". In 2005, aside from the reshot ending described below, the song itself was shortened to remove the first verse, stopping right at the aforementioned apple stem shot. The 2005 version of the advert was recovered on June 16th, 2017 by YouTuber Gondarth, whilst an alternate shortened 2005 version with the original ending intact was uploaded by Lucas’s Archive on August 13, 2022.

• Drinking Water (Partially Found): This advert had the characters swimming in water whilst singing a song about it. One part is known to feature the green creature character drinking water from a bottle and breaking the fourth wall by telling the viewer to drink plenty of water, and another featuring Ronald McDonald appearing beside a water cooler (a clip of which can be seen in the "Too Many Treats" advert) before drinking from it.

• Exercise: (Found) This advert featured the characters doing activities and playing football/soccer with the bouncy ball creature. The advert was recovered on June 30, 2017, by YouTuber Gondarth, whilst a long version with the original Too Many Treats lead-in and original ending was uploaded by [bluefrogTV] on June 21, 2021.

At the end of the songs, it would return to Ronald McDonald in the playroom. He would usually be shown doing an activity related to the song, like juggling fruit or keeping fit, while explaining to the viewer tips on healthy living. The adverts would end with the URL for the YumChums website. In 2005, the ending was reshot to depict Ronald saying "It's what I eat, and what I do", before ending with the recognisable McDonald's slogan, "I'm lovin' it".

Lyrics of the Songs

Too Many Treats

Don't let your YumChums get glum,
put healthy stuff in your tum!
Think about the things you eat,
don't give us too many treats!
Run about, jump around and play
and you will feel yummy every day.

Five-A-Day

We're looking for our veggies, 5 a day is what we need.
We've got to have our veggies today, hey hey!
We're feeling kinda fruity, come on now be good to me!
We've got to have'em all to play, hey hey!

We're looking for our veggies, 5 a day is what we need.
We've got to have our veggies today, hey hey!

5, gimme 5. Gimme gimme gimme 5-a-day!
5, gimme 5. Gimme gimme gimme 5-a-day!

We're feeling kinda fruity, come on now be good to me!
We've got to have'em all to play, hey hey HEY!

Availability

For a while, these advertisements were considered to be lost media, only having the images taken from the 2006 McDonald's Report showcasing what appears to be for the YumChums website. Speaking of which, the .swf file from the site has been archived, but the only thing that remains is the loading screen.

However, come June 2017, two of the advertisements were found from two Nick Jr. continuities by YouTuber Gondarth, being the "5-A-Day" and "Excercise" spots (with alternate versions of both ads also later being found). Additionally, the "Too Many Treats" spot was found and uploaded by YouTuber BlueFrog on April 2021, leaving only one advertisement and the original version of another to be found and uploaded.

Videos

The advert for Too Many Treats.

The advert for Five-A-Day.

The advert for Exercise.

The advert for Five-A-Day (original ending but shortened; 2:41).

The advert for Exercise (original ending and Too Many Treats lead-in).

External Links

• 2006 report explaining the commercials
• The official Yumchums website.