Leo Burnett took quite the minimalist route with its Oscar campaign for McDonald’s, using nothing but text to evoke classic movies.
The 60-second spot likens movies such as Jaws, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs and King Kong to McDonald’s iconic Big Mac, an audacious claim to be sure, ending with the line “Lovin’ takes the right ingredients.” Aside from any qualms about the comparison, the ad does mostly succeed at conveying movies with just a few lines of text, at its best (fava beans + chianti + people…for dinner) mixing in some humor. There’s also something oddly satisfying about how well the text synced up with Debussy’s “Claire de Lune.” Still, how you feel about the approach will largely come down to whether or not you think a fast-food chain should be comparing itself to the classics, and we’re guessing McDonald’s won itself plenty of haters with this one.