Jurassic Park and the Rise of the American Appetite

When Fast Food Got Bigger Than the T-Rex

Back in 1993, before the internet ruined our attention spans and McDonald’s started serving kale, there was a movie called Jurassic Park. It had dinosaurs, screaming scientists, and enough thunder lizards to make a Baptist preacher question the timeline of creation. But more importantly, it gave us something that would change fast food forever: the “Dino-size.”

Now, I don’t know who first looked at a Tyrannosaurus rex and thought, “You know what this country needs? More fries.” But that’s exactly what happened. McDonald’s teamed up with Spielberg’s prehistoric blockbuster and rolled out a promotion that made your combo meal bigger, louder, and more collectible. You got a plastic cup with a dinosaur on it, one that cracked in the dishwasher and faded faster than a summer romance, but by God, it was yours. And if you were lucky, you got the Velociraptor. If you were unlucky, you got the Triceratops, which looked like it had been printed by a man with cataracts.

The “Dino-size” was a hit. Folks lined up to get more fries than any human should consume in one sitting and a soda so big it could drown a squirrel. But when the dinosaurs went extinct (again), McDonald’s didn’t let the idea die. They just renamed it “Supersize.” Same concept, less Jurassic. And for the next decade, Americans happily waddled out of drive-thrus with enough calories to power a small tractor.

Of course, the health folks eventually got involved. They said things like “portion control” and “nutritional awareness,” which are phrases that don’t belong anywhere near a Quarter Pounder. McDonald’s quietly retired the Supersize, but the damage was done. We’d tasted the glory. We’d held the cup. We’d lived large…literally.

So next time you’re staring down a large fry and wondering how we got here, remember: it started with a dinosaur, a movie, and a marketing team that knew Americans love two things…prehistoric monsters and more fries. And if that ain’t the most American thing I’ve ever heard, I’ll eat my Happy Meal toy.