14 Fast Food Slogans You Probably Forgot All About

Remember “Food, Folks and Fun”? Probably not.

McDonald's has tried on dozens of slogans over the years.
McDonald's has tried on dozens of slogans over the years. / Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Fast food restaurants frequently change their slogans to get attention from new and hungry customers. Sometimes they’re memorable, like McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” or “It’s Mac Tonight” campaigns, but not all the time. Here are 14 slogans that didn’t quite stick.

1. “McDonald’s and You” // McDonald’s

Introduced in 1983, the slogan “McDonald’s and You” focused on all the good times and laughs you’d have at McDonald’s. By the following year, it had been replaced by “It’s a Good Time for the Great Taste of McDonald’s.”

2. “Food, Folks, and Fun” // McDonald’s

In 1990, “Food, Folks, and Fun” catered to children and pre-teens looking for all three in one magical place (or Happy Meal). The slogan was short-lived, only lasting about a year.

3. “What You Want Is What You Get” // McDonald’s

McDonald’s used its “What You Want Is What You Get at McDonald’s Today” slogan throughout the mid-1990s. It emphasized hard work and community values. In the summer of 1994, McDonald’s played up its partnership with The Flintstones live-action movie when they briefly changed it to “What You Want Is What You Get at RocDonald’s Today.”

4. “Where’s Herb?” // Burger King

Where’s Herb?” was a scavenger hunt contest to find Herb, a “nerd” visiting a Burger King in every state, giving away cash prizes and Whoppers. Burger King ran the contest throughout 1985.

5. “This Is a Burger King Town” // Burger King

In the mid-1980s, “This Is a Burger King Town” married the quaintness of small-town life with the simple pleasures of a Burger King meal.

6. “The Best Food for Fast Times” // Burger King

Later that decade, Burger King introduced “The Best Food for Fast Times,” which marketed its burgers as an indulgence for extravagant, cool, fun-loving folks who liked their food to be just how they liked it.

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7. “Make a Run for the Border” // Taco Bell

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Taco Bell urged customers to “Make a Run for the Border”—an invitation to leave your ho-hum life for the thrill of a Wild West–inspired escape to Mexico (or at least to the nearest Taco Bell restaurant).

8. “What a Sandwich” // Subway

Subway’s brief “What a Sandwich” run in the mid-1990s featured a promotional campaign for 1995’s Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, but its pop cultural legacy is about as nonexistent as that sequel’s is.

9. “Putt Putt to the Pizza Hut” // Pizza Hut

In 1966, Pizza Hut’s first national ad campaign—“Putt Putt to the Pizza Hut”—aired during halftime of the Notre Dame vs. Michigan State “Game of the Century.” It had nothing to do with mini golf: Putt putt evidently referred to making slow progress in a small vehicle. The slogan and commercial successfully ran well into the 1970s.

10. “Have a Barrel of Fun” // KFC

In the early 1970s, KFC introduced the slogan “Have a Barrel of Fun” to supplement its iconic “Finger Lickin’ Good!” catchphrase. It lingered into the 1980s, but was mostly superseded by “We Do Chicken Right.”

11. “We Speak Fish” // Long John Silver‘s

In 2011, Long John Silver’s launched “We Speak Fish” as its new slogan. It didn’t last more than about a year, but it was at least catchier than the brand’s weak pun from the early ’80s: “Put a Smile on Your Taste.”

12. “Avoid the Noid” // Domino’s

In 1986, Domino’s introduced the Noid: a masked claymation trickster on a mission to ruin your pizza. The accompanying slogan was “Avoid the Noid,” and the campaign lasted into the 1990s.

13. “You Got 30 Minutes” // Domino‘s

In 2007, Domino’s pivoted from guaranteeing pizza delivery within 30 minutes to simply emphasizing that the time frame was still their gold standard with the “You Got 30 Minutes” campaign. The message, as the brand explained in a press release, was that customers “have free time—about 30 minutes—to do whatever they want, because Domino’s Pizza is taking care of the meal.”

14. “Buy ‘Em by the Sack” // White Castle

White Castle was established in 1921 and rolled out their first slogan six years later: “Buy ’Em by the Sack.” The burger chain has cycled through a number of slogans over the last century or so—including “The Only Little Square Hamburger in Town” from the 1970s—but none (as far as we know) that sums up why White Castle sliders have five holes.

A version of this story ran in 2016; it has been updated for 2024.