The 1980s Musical McDonald's Contest That Ended In Tragedy

In 1989, the Price family was struggling just to survive. They had no running water, a wood stove, and were scraping for food. In the little town of Galax, Virginia, they were living day to day with no end in sight. Then, everything changed when Scotty Landreth, the son of the family, discovered a flexi disc record in a pile of mail intended for burning in the family stove. 

The 13-year-old boy was excited to see the McDonald's record because he'd gotten a record player as a gift and he rushed to try it out. To his surprise, the record informed him that he needed to call a number to claim a prize. He had no idea that, on the other end of the line, was about to be a voice saying the family had won $1,000,000.

Scotty and his family were recipients of the grand prize of one of McDonald's biggest contests ever. 80 million of the records were produced, but only one of them contained the winning message. His mother, Charlene Price, flew to Chicago to accept the prize. She even got her hair done by Oprah's stylist for the occasion. From then on, things were different for the family. Scotty was given $10,000 from the winnings, while Charlene married her sweetheart. There were fancy vacations, new cars, and plenty of trips to McDonald's.

Yet, a few years later, Charlene Price was completely penniless. She passed away in her sister's trailer, lying in hospice with only a broken family and memories to show for it. This quick rise and fall leaves many wondering how exactly something like this happens.

While this is now a McDonald's contest everyone forgot about, in its day it was a massive deal. During the 1970s and 1980s, flexi discs were everywhere. They appeared on the backs of cereal boxes and especially in fast food restaurants as inexpensive freebies. These postcard-sized records were printed on flimsy pieces of plastic-coated paper and played single songs, comedy routines, and more. Even some Michael Jackson songs were printed on flexi disc.

To get in on this flexi disc mania, McDonald's made a song called the "Menu Song." This song involved a class singing the full menu, order by order, to a fast-paced, jaunty tune. In most records, the class falters and cannot complete the song. In one, however, they sing it perfectly, and that was the winning record. That winner alone would receive a cool million bucks. It was the most distributed record of the entire decade, outdoing even "Thriller."

The goal of this was a simple one — get children to hear the menu and get hungry. The records were given out for free with the newspaper along with coupons for various food items. It seems to have worked since many from that generation can still recite the lyrics. For that level of advertising, a massive grand prize was no problem. Well, at least not for McDonald's.

It may not be as tragic a twist as the 1992 Pepsi Contest riots, but this story still ends in tragedy. Shortly after winning, the Price family was still living in Galax but felt on top of the world. Charlene Price bought the small shop she'd been working in and renamed it The Price Is Right. She also went on classy vacations with her daughter to Hawaii, among other places. But before long, things went bad. Charlene wasn't spending responsibly, gifting her new husband multiple trucks while 13-year-old Scotty Landreth spent the $10,000 quickly. He ended up working at McDonald's, ironically enough, just to get by.

Charlene and her husband divorced, and there are rumors of family members stealing money. One of Charlene's boyfriends eventually cleaned out her bank accounts while she slept and disappeared, never to be found. Charlene was diagnosed with an aggressive ovarian cancer that soon took her life. Her daughter, Tammy, ended up spending some time in jail. Scotty and his sister argued over who'd found the record originally, and eventually ended up not on speaking terms. To this day, Scotty still lives in Galax, Virginia supposedly working as a tree trimmer.

As an additional sadness, the original flexi disc seems to have been lost as well. Whether it was taken back by McDonald's corporate or simply misplaced, the record Scotty owns to this day is one of the 80 million flawed records. This sad tale alone remains to remind people that sudden wealth and fortune don't always turn out for the best.