McDonald’s McGold Card Promotes Online Ordering

To help drive customers to its online ordering system, McDonald’s is rolling out a free food “for life” promotion. The winner will score a McGold Card that gives two free meals a week over a 50-year period, USA Today reported.

According to the contest’s website, the prize is worth $52,350. The contest kicks off on Friday (August 10) and concludes later in the month. McDonald’s is not the first QSR to run such a contest. Starbucks, for example, ran a “Starbucks for Life” contest, where winners would receive a free drink or food item each day over a 30-year period.

The news comes after McDonald’s rolled out the MacCoin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Big Mac. According to USA Today, the coin was available to customers who purchased a Big Mac at 14,000 restaurants in the U.S. The MacCoin can be redeemed for another Big Mac, and was launched on August 2 — the 100th birthday of McDonald’s franchisee, Jim Delligatti, who created the Big Mac.

The Big Mac, however, is no stranger to currency. The popular hamburger has played a role in measuring purchasing power. Since the 1980s, The Economist has been keeping track of the purchasing power of currencies from around the world using a Big Mac Index.

“They use it to this day,” McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook told USA Today. “Why not have some fun with it? Create our own currency.”

The news also comes more than a year after a McDonald’s in Boston was to activate what it called a “customized digital Big Mac ATM.” During lunch hours, the Big Mac ATM was to dispense two new sizes of burger — the Mac Jr. and the Grand Mac — free of charge.