Marlen Esparza's Co-star Lucky Not to Get Punched in McDonald's Olympics Ad

The American flyweight boxer Marlen Esparza is doing well at the London Olympics, having assured herself of at least a bronze medal. Her biggest challenge leading up to the Games, though, may have been summoning the willpower not to punch her co-star while filming this McDonald's spot from DDB in Chicago. Leaving aside the bigger issue of whether fast-food companies should be sponsoring the Olympics at all, [1] the ad is pretty annoying across the board. Esparza, 23, who also models for CoverGirl, [2] is accosted by a "trainer"—actually a chicken-sandwich-clutching McDonald's customer—who cynically wants her to do well at the Games so she (the customer) can win McDonald's prizes as part of the "Win When USA Wins Gold" [3] promotion. "Chop chop," she tells Esparza after offering tips on her stance and ridiculing the Olympian's general level of effort. A lame joke about Ukranian boxers caps things off. If by some chance you're a fan of this character—who's been given the name Tara Wert, which is the real name of a DDB producer [4]—check out a companion interview piece after the jump.