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Size: 11" x 6" flat
Original vintage 1991 McDonald’s Happy Meal paper bag featuring Batman and the Batmobile, from the Batman Returns Happy Meal, the one with the Penguin and Catwoman. It's new old stock, flat and never filled with fries. These paper bags were designed as disposable fast-food packaging.
The front has the golden arches and "McDonald's® Happy Meal® presents" under PLEASE PUT LITTER IN ITS PLACE, then the bat signal over Gotham and the long black Batmobile roaring down a city street. Two puzzles run across the bottom: "Batman™ is hero to the people of Gotham City™. Find the letter 'H' for Hero hidden in 10 places in this picture," and how many words can you make from "BATMOBILE?"
The back is the villains' side. The Penguin is tearing out of town in his yellow roadster with a spinning red spiral, and you get a maze to help him escape to his hideout at the zoo. Catwoman races by in her cat-eyed car, and there's a bird crossword with PEACOCK filled in to get you started. My favorite part is the joke in the corner: "Q: What topping does Catwoman put on her food? A: CATsup!"
Turn it over and the bottom flap has the answers (Duck, Parrot, Peacock, Owl, Flamingo; mat, mile, beat, oil "and over 20 more words"), a dashed Proof of Purchase box, the copyright lines "©1991 McDonald's Corporation, McD#91-183, FC# MCDY-322, Printed in United States of America" and "TM and ©1991 DC Comics Inc.," and one line I love, "CORRECTED COPYRIGHT NOTICE FOR VEHICLE," a little legal fix printed right on the bag.
Both, really. The artwork and the bag are copyrighted 1991, which is how most collectors list them, and they were handed out with Happy Meals in June 1992 when Batman Returns hit theaters.
The toys in this promotion were four vehicles: the launching Batmobile, the Batmissile, Catwoman's Cat Coupe with a tail that wags as she rides, and the Penguin's Roto-Roadster with an umbrella that twirls. You can see the Penguin's and Catwoman's cars right there on the back of this bag. McDonald's also sold Batman collector cups with lids that doubled as a little frisbee.
Then people saw the movie. Tim Burton's Batman Returns was a dark, strange PG-13 film, with Danny DeVito's Penguin biting a man's nose and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman in stitched vinyl, and parents were not happy it was being sold through Happy Meals. Letters poured in to McDonald's and Warner Bros., the Dove Foundation criticized the tie-in, and NBC talk-show host Faith Daniels ran a segment called "Parents Against Batman Returns." McDonald's answered that the program was meant to let kids "experience the fun of Batman the character," not to promote the movie.
Burton didn't direct the next one. Warner Bros. handed the series to Joel Schumacher for the brighter, more toy-friendly Batman Forever in 1995, and the story fans have told ever since is that the Happy Meal backlash is a big part of why.
Look at the little symbol at the top left, the golden arches inside the recycling arrows, with "Made from recycled paper, 65% post-consumer." That's McDonald's early-'90s green push. In April 1990 the company launched McRecycle USA, promising to spend $100 million a year on recycled materials and switching to recycled paper for things like Happy Meal boxes and bags. That August it teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund to cut its trash, and in November 1990 it announced it was dropping the old foam clamshell. This bag comes right out of that moment.
Ships flat and protected to preserve condition.
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