McDonald's Shares 1,400 Happy Meal-Inspired Bird Boxes for Finnish Forests

A third of bird species  in Finland is endangered. Especially small forest birds have a hard time finding a safe place to build nests. To support the community, as well as the nature around us, McDonald’s Finland’s Happy Meal Bird Box campaign is bringing over 1,400 Happy Meal box look-a-like nest boxes to Finnish forests. McDonald’s is a family restaurant at heart and now even the smallest families will have a place to eat together.

In Finland, small birds usually begin nesting in early spring, but some look for perfect spots all year round. Nest boxes shelter nesting birds from predatorial species and can be placed almost anywhere in nature. Building and putting up nest boxes is a Finnish tradition, and many people have one in their backyards or at their summer cottages since it is permitted to put them up almost in recreation area or forest in Finland. McDonald’s is giving out Happy Meal Bird Box DIY sets to families buying Happy Meals, so they can easily build their own nest boxes. The set includes all the needed parts to put together a Happy Meal Bird Box.

The creative agency behind the campaign is NORD DDB Helsinki. “One of COVID-19’s side effects in Finland was that people flooded into nature. It feels like people’s bond with nature has strengthened in an unforeseen way and this in a way brought up the idea for the campaign. The iconic Happy Meal box resembles a home, a bird home to be precise. Thus, it made sense to put together families, nature and Happy Meals and as a result we have a campaign that highlights what the Happy Meal stands for: the precious time spent together as a family,” says Kalle Wallin, Creative Director at NORD DDB Helsinki.

Happy Meal Bird Boxes are made from Finnish hardwood and their robust look and feel is optimized for the birds. The nest boxes can be easily put together by the whole family, giving even the smallest members a chance to participate. The Happy Meal Bird Box DIY set includes instructions as well as all the painted and ready formed pieces and screws needed to put the nest box together. All you need is a screwdriver and a piece of string to tie the box to a tree.

“McDonald’s is known as a family restaurant and especially after COVID-19, we wanted to give families something they could do together, while protecting our precious nature and wildlife at the same time,” says Mats Nyström, Marketing Director for McDonald’s Finland.

Social responsibility and valuing the time spent together by families is at the heart of the company’s culture. From the Ronald McDonald foundation to replacing Happy Meal toys with books, McDonald’s is all about family time.

In addition to the give-away sets, instructions for DIY nest boxes can be found on the trayliners at all McDonald’s restaurants in Finland as well as at mcdonalds.fi. The campaign includes a €10 000 donation from McDonald’s towards the protection of Finnish birds. Happy Meal Bird Box DIY sets are given to families buying Happy Meals all over Finland from September 26th onwards.