If you missed the NFL playoffs and Golden Globes this weekend but have been on, say, Twitter anytime since, you’re probably aware of an ad called “Signs.” The minute-long spot made by powerhouse agency Leo Burnett has struck some as “offensively manipulative” for suggesting McDonald’s was “there” for the victims of 9/11, the Boston bombing, the Columbia space shuttle explosion, and more — you know, because of how it arranged some words on letter boards outside of its stores.
Plenty defended the ad as “great,” or “brilliant” even, but really, a minute-long collection of roadside marquees with no trace of delinquent passersby or well-meaning misspellings is just begging for parody, as prescient eye-rollers out there picked up on right away:
Someone needs to make a McDonald’s commercial with all the signs that have been messed with pic.twitter.com/AXkJan5cVd— Slob Gronkowski (@EDMslob) January 11, 2015
And, well, it took less than half a day:
Others have started popping up, too, like ones that crassly Photoshop things like “We put meth in the Hi-C” over the ad’s original signs, so take that as a sign, if you will, that this one is likely to get worse before it gets better.
