Image source: YouTube
McDonald’s agreed to pay two college students $25,000 each for posting a fake advertising poster in one of its restaurants. It’s a story of how McDonald’s turned a potentially negative story into a marketing and PR positive – though at some expense.
Two University of Houston students, Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo, said they noticed that images on the walls of their local McDonald’s in Pearland, TX, didn’t portray a single Asian. The young Filipino-Americans resolved to rectify that lack of diversity. They doctored a photo of themselves eating McDonald’s food and transformed the image into a large poster.
Toledo wore fake a store ID badge and a store employee shirt he purchased for $7 at a local thrift shop while he instructed Toledo and a friend how to hang the bogus advertisement.
A Remarkable Achievement
The poster looked remarkably realistic (See illustration). What was even more remarkable was that it remained hanging for weeks. After 51 days, Maravilla finally announced on Twitter that the poster was fake. Commenters overwhelmingly said they hoped the poster would remain.
i noticed there was a blank wall at mcdonald’s so i decided to make this fake poster of me and my friend. It’s now been 51 days since i hung it up. pic.twitter.com/5OTf5aR4vm
— JΞVH M (@Jevholution) September 3, 2018
The tweet went viral, and gained extensive media exposure, including the attention of TV host Ellen DeGeneres, who invited the students on her show to talk about their stunt.
McDonald’s also noticed and rewarded the students with $25,000 each as part of an upcoming marketing campaign. “You guys earned this dream,” it tweeted to them. The generous response earned McDonald’s extraordinary publicity and good will, especially in the Asian community.
The company told DeGeneres that the poster would be taken down because of a planned renovation but that the new store would reflect greater diversity of the community.
The students also created a YouTube video, which has over a million views to date, of how they completed the stunt. “Remember folks, all races deserve recognition, and I guess I did my part” Maravilla states in the YouTube video.
“The whole world is a melting pot of different cultures, and it’s about time for the media to mirror that,” Marvalla told NBC. “It’s crazy how much of a difference I can make with a small prank and a tweet.”
Embrace the Prank
McDonald’s made the correct decision, and the only realistic option, by embracing the prank ad.
Media observers say the prank has grown into a widespread movement to include more Asians in mainstream marketing. Realistically, the movement was already afoot. The recent box office hit Crazy Rich Asians, which features an all-Asian cast is the most recent highlight of that trend. The movie brought in more than $80 million in ticket sales, far surpassing industry analyst’ initial forecasts.
The marketing and public relations lesson: Responding to a prank or criticism with humor and good will can earn positive publicity, kudos and customer loyalty.
Bottom Line: Filipino-American students gained national attention by hanging a fake ad poster in a McDonald’s restaurant. Besides creating a humorous prank, the pair underscores the movement to include more Asians in marketing materials.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
