A satanic-themed Happy Meal? No, image was generated, started as a joke | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Image shows satanic-themed McDonald's Happy Meal

An April 1 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows an image of a devil figurine beside a black box with the McDonald's logo and the word "Baphomet" written on it.

"If you are a believer of Christ, you should not be supporting McDonald's," says a woman in the video. "Two years ago, they gave out free tarot card readings to their customers. Now they are making satanic Happy Meals for these children."

The post's caption says, "McDonald’s is Demonic!"

The post garnered more than 8,000 likes in a week. Other versions of the claim were shared on Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: Altered

The image was digitally generated with AI, according to its creator and a computer science expert. There is no evidence McDonald's is selling satanic-themed meals.

Image of satanic meal digitally fabricated as joke

There are no such products listed on McDonald's website and no credible news reports about McDonald's selling such a meal.

The image was originally shared on X on March 27 by a user who specified in the post's comments that it was an "Ai joke."

"New McDonald's Happy Meal Your kids will LoVe It (sic)," reads the post's caption.

An evaluation by the AI-detection tool Hive Moderation found the image was 99.9% likely to be AI-generated.

James O’Brien, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told USA TODAY there are signs indicating the image is AI-generated.

"The main issue that probably looks fake to many people is how clean and evenly lit the image looks," O'Brien said in an email. "That is possible with a camera but generally requires some skill and equipment, maybe some post-processing as well. A lot of people include something like 'studio lighting' or 'professionally lit' in their image prompts, which often results in images that look nice but don’t match the alleged source."

He also said both the "m" in "Balphomet" and the McDonald's logo on the side of the box look distorted, while the lighting appears to be inconsistent.

Fact check: Images that show 'satanism in public schools' are digital creations

Though the woman was correct in noting the chain celebrated the Mercury retrograde in 2022 by offering free tarot card readings, there's no evidence McDonald's ever sold any demonic merchandise. As of April 10, McDonald's was selling a Just Dance-themed Happy Meal.

Target was also falsely accused of selling satanic merchandise based on AI-generated images. USA TODAY debunked the claim at the time.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Snopes also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Image of Satanic-themed Happy Meal was created with AI | Fact check