Is there anyway to contact someone from McDonald's who might have a copy of the commercial on hand?
It’s already been discussed before that they do not have an archive of their own commercials. Plus I doubt they’d willingly release such a controversial commercial even if they had it.
Today I reached out to Sean Mullens (who worked on the "Breakroom" and "Copier" ads). I've sent him a message on Facebook to see if he had any further involvement in the campaign or information that might be helpful.
In the meantime here's HQ copies of those two office ads via his Vimeo:
Is there anyway to contact someone from McDonald's who might have a copy of the commercial on hand?
I think this has already been tried. Also, they really don't have an archive of their ads, nor do I think McDonald's themselves would want to release the advertisement just because it is controversial. Also, there was another lost McDonald's ad for Shrimp McBites, and they also contacted them, and they said they didn't have any archives of ads for them either, so I do believe them on that.
Today I reached out to Sean Mullens (who worked on the "Breakroom" and "Copier" ads). I've sent him a message on Facebook to see if he had any further involvement in the campaign or information that might be helpful.
In the meantime here's HQ copies of those two office ads via his Vimeo:
That's actually a good lead. I do feel like someone who individually worked on the ad would be far more likely to give more information on it than McDonald's themselves or whatever ad agency worked on it. Also, do we even know what ad agency worked on this ad? That might actually be a strong lead as well.
Today I reached out to Sean Mullens (who worked on the "Breakroom" and "Copier" ads). I've sent him a message on Facebook to see if he had any further involvement in the campaign or information that might be helpful.
In the meantime here's HQ copies of those two office ads via his Vimeo:
That's actually a good lead. I do feel like someone who individually worked on the ad would be far more likely to give more information on it than McDonald's themselves or whatever ad agency worked on it. Also, do we even know what ad agency worked on this ad? That might actually be a strong lead as well.
Yes, it'll be between DDB or Leo Burnett. We aren't sure which.
Is there anyway to contact someone from McDonald's who might have a copy of the commercial on hand?
It’s already been discussed before that they do not have an archive of their own commercials. Plus I doubt they’d willingly release such a controversial commercial even if they had it.
It's worth noting that McDonald's is a very large corporation with lots of subdivisions.
I find the idea that they don't have a commercial archive to be kinda weird. Granted, this isn't a sporting organization like FIFA, the NFL, or WWE, but I'm sure an archive of commercials would be very helpful when needing reference material for a new marketing campaign, or onboarding employees on "what not to do", etc. I suspect it might be misdirection; it would be weird PR for someone on behalf of McDonald's to willingly give a copy of a controversial commercial to one of us.
In this case we're better off finding relevant individuals who were involved in filming/marketing though maybe they might not be forthcoming? Not in a "this commercial needs to be wiped off the Earth" way, more like a "this was really cringey and I don't want my name attached to it" way.
It helps that the infamous McDonald's Japanese training DS game was cracked because the person in question had a connection to McDonald's France and was able to get more information on it, so maybe that's the way to find this commercial.
Today I reached out to Sean Mullens (who worked on the "Breakroom" and "Copier" ads). I've sent him a message on Facebook to see if he had any further involvement in the campaign or information that might be helpful.
In the meantime here's HQ copies of those two office ads via his Vimeo:
I got a great reply from Sean Mullens! Unfortunately he doesn't know about the plane ad but he was really nice about it and said he's intrigued by ad archival as a hobby. I've asked him if he knows about the agency(s) who worked on this campaign since that's another major gap in our research and he might have some more info on that front.
I'm always anxious about reaching out to people in the industry but everyone I've contacted about ad stuff has been super nice.
"The new ads have been made by a raft of McDonald's agencies including Leo Burnett in the US, DDB in Hong Kong and New Zealand, Leo Burnett in Australia, Burrell Communications in the US and Leo Burnett and DRM DDB in Argentina." [...]
"Another ad shot in New Zealand shows McDonald's "chief happiness officer" Ronald McDonald having fun with his friends, who include NBA star Yao Ming and tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams. McDonald's said that more "I'm lovin' it" commercials will be released this summer themed to current promotions, as well as the Olympic Games in Athens, featuring Justin Timberlake, Yao Ming, and Venus and Serena Williams." [...]
"Another ad shot by the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide shows an office worker making photocopies as he defends his Chicken Selects from other employees."
A direct mention of the photocopy guy ad, and it even tells us who made it. This could be useful in the future.
Since we're talking about the ad agencies again, figured I'd bring back the research I did last December. I forgot that Burrell Communications also worked with the campaign.
"The new ads have been made by a raft of McDonald's agencies including Leo Burnett in the US, DDB in Hong Kong and New Zealand, Leo Burnett in Australia, Burrell Communications in the US and Leo Burnett and DRM DDB in Argentina." [...]
"Another ad shot in New Zealand shows McDonald's "chief happiness officer" Ronald McDonald having fun with his friends, who include NBA star Yao Ming and tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams. McDonald's said that more "I'm lovin' it" commercials will be released this summer themed to current promotions, as well as the Olympic Games in Athens, featuring Justin Timberlake, Yao Ming, and Venus and Serena Williams." [...]
"Another ad shot by the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide shows an office worker making photocopies as he defends his Chicken Selects from other employees."
A direct mention of the photocopy guy ad, and it even tells us who made it. This could be useful in the future.
Since we're talking about the ad agencies again, figured I'd bring back the research I did last December. I forgot that Burrell Communications also worked with the campaign.
Ahh good catch, I didn't see this!
I'm gonna see if I can find the directors/crew from some of the other ads, but so far I've not had much luck aside from the office ones.
Idk if this helps or not, But I remember sometime around 2016-ish where it was this black guy talking about McDonald's adverts and how they targeted black people. And I think the ad we're looking for was in that video. I think it was somewhere on Facebook. And I remember it also had that McDonald rap song ad in it. I'm going to see if I can find that video that would be a huge lead.
Idk if this helps or not, But I remember sometime around 2016-ish where it was this black guy talking about McDonald's adverts and how they targeted black people. And I think the ad we're looking for was in that video. I think it was somewhere on Facebook. And I remember it also had that McDonald rap song ad in it. I'm going to see if I can find that video that would be a huge lead.
Idk if this helps or not, But I remember sometime around 2016-ish where it was this black guy talking about McDonald's adverts and how they targeted black people. And I think the ad we're looking for was in that video. I think it was somewhere on Facebook. And I remember it also had that McDonald rap song ad in it. I'm going to see if I can find that video that would be a huge lead.
Was it this?
Yep that was it. Damnit i thought it was at least referenced in that video.
Last Edit: Jun 7, 2024 18:09:30 GMT by ewozniakx86
Some of the posts about YBD suggest that the Selects appeared in the plane scene themselves so it's unlikely the branding for that one was interchangeable, but something to be mindful of just in case.
