Cactus Jack Sent Me: How Merch & Music Hit New Heights with Travis Scott’s McDonald’s Collaboration

“Cactus Jack Sent Me.” The phrase uttered across the map as Travis Scott unleashed his new collaboration with McDonald’s. The two titans of their industry let their worlds collide as McDonald’s released the “Travis Scott Meal” and Travis branded his coveted merch with their logo. This is no small feat, as McDonald’s has not had a meal branded by an individual since Michael Jordan almost 30 years ago. However, it is quite obvious why McDonald’s chose the enigma that is Travis Scott.

Cactus Jack is coming 🌵

The @trvisXX Meal drops 9/8 pic.twitter.com/ljeguZkMQX

— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) September 3, 2020

Travis Scott & Merch

According to the BBC, “T-Shirts work well as a way of connecting artists and fans. They become visual shorthand and send out a message that the actor whose name is emblazoned on their chest is definitely worth checking out. In an age of saturated social media activity, a T-Shirt spotted in the real world can, through great design, stand out and put musicians in the eye line of people who might otherwise be unaware of them.” There is no better example of this than La Flame himself, Travis Scott. A protégé to Kanye West, Travis has continued in the same shoes as Kanye. They have managed to transcend their music and have begun merchandising to the masses, from sneakers, tour merch, and everywhere in between. To be a Travis Scott fan, you cannot just have the music in your earbuds, you have to own one of his many pieces. Whether you went to the Astroworld Tour and got your hands on a “Wish You Were Here” T-Shirt, or you got lucky and managed to obtain one of his Nike or Jordan Brand collaborations. To be a Travis Scott fan, you have to be easily identifiable in a crowd, often so you can connect with another fan. This community is what makes someone like Travis Scott so different, able to glue together people from different backgrounds, and all give them a sense of commonality. However, there are those few that do not know who he is. This is where the merch acts as a marketing tool to get their name plastered on a T-Shirt on kids all on Main Street USA. But what could fast track that marketing, and plaster Travis Scott across more parts of the country? That answer: McDonald’s.

McDonald’s takes a trip to Astroworld

September 3rd, 2020. McDonald’s teases new collaboration with Travis Scott, and the twitter world goes into a meltdown. A new Travis Scott meal (Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese add Lettuce and Bacon, Fries with BBQ sauce, and a Sprite) sends Travis fans (in their “Wish You Were Here” T-shirts) to their nearest McDonald’s almost instantly, causing some stores to experience a beef shortage. But, everyone knows this would not be complete without a merch drop, and fans were not disappointed. McDonald’s emblems were plastered side by side to Cactus Jack and Travis Scott insignia, from nugget body pillows, vintage 90s inspired T-Shirts, a life-size cutout of a Travis action figure, and almost anything else you could think of, fans ate it up as fast as they did the McDonald’s meal. The merch bordered on parody, reminiscent of vintage T-shirt that would rehash the McDonald’s logos into lewd depictions. But this was different, maybe it was how tasteful and trendy it was done, or maybe it was the community behind it. One thing is for sure, “Cactus Jack sent me” will be ringing through drive-thrus for as long as people can get their hands on this collaboration, and even more so after in the Travis Scott lore established across his fan community.