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Virtual Reality is now available at the drive-thru

In Sweden, McDonald's is offering Happy Meals that turn into a VR headset.

By Nick Powills1851 Franchise Publisher
SPONSOREDUpdated 4:16PM 03/04/16

When Google released Cardboard, its $15 paper-and-velcro Virtual Reality headset, their message was loud and clear: Virtual Reality is coming, so let’s make it as accessible as possible.

Two of the world’s biggest brands appear to have gotten the message. In mid-February, Coca-Cola released a tutorial demonstrating how to make Virtual Reality viewers out of old Coke boxes. And now, a new program from McDonald’s pushes the concept further. On March 4, McDonald’s Sweden will begin selling Happy Meals in boxes that transform into Virtual Reality headsets. The program is called Happy Goggles, and it will make a limited run of 3,500 headsets available at 14 restaurants across northern Sweden.

Happy Goggles are easy to construct, too. By tearing off eye and nose holes, folding up one-half of the box, and inserting lenses, you get a Cardboard-esque gadget in classic McDonald’s red. Customers who buy one can access a link on their smartphone to retrieve the inaugural Happy Goggles Virtual Reality game—a lo-fi animated skiing-racing game called “Se upp i baccken,” or, in English, “Watch out on the slopes.”

Happy Goggles might be a marketing gimmick, but that doesn’t mean customers shouldn’t take it seriously. When The New York Times mailed out 13-million Google Cardboard sets with its Sunday newspaper last November, tons of people remarked on how powerful it was to watch children engage with the headsets.

“We had a collective sense that our kids were experiencing something meaningfully new,” WIRED wrote back in 2015. “It’s not just an encounter with new technology, but with a new way of relating to technology. Virtual Reality can take you to places you’ve never seen. Done well, it’s an absolute thrill.”

And now, you can order that experience at the drive-thru.

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