client: McDonald’s
improvement: To Serve Man
date: May 30, 2005
creative director/marketing coordinator: Jack Napier | production: Fred Demara, Missy, Mademoiselle Rouxben, Rico T. Spoons, Hollywood, Lewis Cypher, Milton Rand Kalman, Eric Weiss
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1:30pm May 30th, 2005
Location: Billboard in the Cala Foods parking lot, corner of Haight St & Stanyan St S.F.
McDonalds is virtually ignoring its own golden anniversary with the modesty and humility of a king, even though McDonald’s 50th is an event of colossal significance for shareholders, staff, customers, and indeed, all of mankind. Thus, the Billboard Liberation Front (BLF) and Ron of the East will provide our most inspirational client with a gratis improvement in honor of McDonalds campaign “To Serve Man.”
The improvement illuminates and memorializes McDonalds’ far-reaching vision of Service to Man with two unique components. The background is an original 12’ x 22’ painting by noted New York artist Ron of the East, whose work was featured in the film Supersize Me. The foreground will feature the world’s first animatronic billboard alteration: a life-sized figure of Ronald McDonald feeding a corpulent child his daily dose of Big Macs. This represents yet another stunning innovation in realm of billboard alteration arts by San Francisco’s own Billboard Liberation Front.
Yet, this innovation pales in light to the dedication of McDonalds To Serve Man. With each successive year McDonalds has unflinchingly and subserviently fed more and more of humanity for the lowest of possible prices. All the while, they have selflessly prepared Earth and all its inhabitants for our ultimate purpose in the Universal Scheme of Things, as writer Rod Serling presaged in the 1960’s. That Grand Design is now ready for Mass Consumption.
Mankind is ready to serve, and McDonalds’ is the corporation to do the serving. After 50 years of eating more and more Big Macs, French fries, and McNuggets designed to enhance our serve-ability, we are finally ready! Untold billions of meals consumed by billions of people throughout the world, have sufficiently enlarged the average girth and tenderness of McDonalds’ patrons (i.e. you) to reveal the True Meaning of life on Earth! Keep your eyes to the skies and watch for the big, shiny saucers with the gold-arched logos that are going to whisk us away to our inevitable and glorious destiny among the stars. Soon McDonalds will truly fulfill its mission To Serve Man.
Bio:
The BLF has been improving the state of drive-by advertising since 1977. Campaigns include Apple Computer, Joe Camel, Plymouth Neon, Marlboro, Exxon and many others.
Perhaps the most celebrated billboard artist in America, Ron of the East began his career by installing his original artwork on billboard structures in Austin, Texas in 1983.