On each episode of Wondery’s podcast The Big Flop, comedians join host Misha Brown to chronicle one of the biggest pop-culture fails of all time and try to answer the age-old question: who thought THIS was a good idea?The Hamburglar was just a mascot, but Jerome Jacobson was the real deal - a McDonald's security chief who pulled off the ultimate inside job. While millions of Americans peeled game pieces hoping for a miracle, this master manipulator was turning Big Macs into big bucks, orchestrating a multi-million dollar fraud. Discover the supersized story of how one man's greed turned America's favorite promotion into the biggest McFlop in fast-food history.This is just a preview of The Big Flop. Listen to The Big Flop wherever you get your podcasts, or at wondery.fm/thebigflop.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the Big Flop podcast about?
Yetis, we're about to play a sample of an episode of a different show. It's called The Big Flop. We think you're going to like it. And it's about this one incident in business history that is one of the funniest things we'd ever heard of. And we kind of experienced it. Remember McDonald's did that Monopoly sweepstakes? How could I forget, Jack?
Where you try to capture different Monopoly pieces to win like crazy prizes? My family ate at McDonald's like six days in a row on the Upper West Side, purely to get a Corvette. We didn't get one, spoiler. Nick, I didn't know this at the time, but there was a guy at McDonald's, a security chief, who almost pulled off the ultimate inside job to ruin McDonald's monopoly. Wait to hear this, besties.
On Wondery's podcast, The Big Flop, comedians join host Misha Brown to chronicle pop culture's biggest fails and try to answer the age-old question, Who thought this was a good idea? Like putting a little sticker on a cup at McDonald's, and that sticker was a Monopoly piece worth a million dollars. Yeah, there's a whole strategy behind it.
But at the time, the McDonald's collab with Monopoly was a genius idea, right, Jack? The only problem, when they picked their head of security, the one guy in charge of protecting those million-dollar Monopoly pieces McDonald's drew the wrong card. Comedians Ify Wadiwe and Beth Stelling join Misha on this episode to break down what really went down with the McDonald's monopoly scandal.
So here you go. You're about to hear a preview of The Big Flop. You can watch full episodes of The Big Flop on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Remember when a big, beautiful, family-size house cost $250,000? Something like that today would be, what, triple the price? Well, imagine you get that house for free. Grandpa gets a million dollars, and your best friend wins a brand new car, all thanks to the McDonald's Monopoly game. If that sounds too good to be true, that's because it is.
Unless, of course, you're the Robin Hood of scammers, or I guess, in this case, the Hamburglar of scammers. Let's get into it, besties. It's the Monopoly game, only at McDonald's.
With over 50 million prizes, it's supersized excitement. For years and years, the game was compromised. It was rigged.
The scam worked for more than a decade, with the crooks making off with more than $24 million. From Wondery and at Will Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest fails, blunders, and flubs of all time. I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar and supersized drama queen at your bestie, Misha.
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Chapter 2: What was the McDonald's Monopoly game?
And by the 1980s, it's become an American institution, just like another M name we all know and love, McDonald's. I'm loving it. So the idea to combine these two iconic brands comes from a company called Simon Marketing in 1987. And Simon Marketing also came up with Happy Meals. So, I mean, they know a thing or two about selling food. Hamburgers. You know what I mean?
Now, the way the Monopoly game works is when you buy something at McDonald's, there are Monopoly game pieces attached to your drink or your fries package or your burger box. You can also find the pieces in ads in magazines and newspapers, which I did not remember that. The pieces are covered by little flaps that you peel off.
And if you find the right combination of Monopoly pieces or the instant win pieces, you win a prize. So let's take a look at an ad for the Monopoly game from 1987.
You win a dream vacation.
What?
A home? I don't remember that.
Yeah, I didn't know that. You were winning houses?
That's... That was in 87, so... Yeah, that's true.
Houses were way cheaper.
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