The ad honors the long-standing custom of manga and anime to feature a restaurant named “WcDonald’s.”
Let WcDonald’s flourish and McDonald’s die.
In an homage to manga and anime, McDonald’s is temporarily replacing its iconic golden arches with a “W” for its newest ad.
Launching worldwide on February 26, the pop culture-inspired redesign will feature limited-edition packaging, a new sauce, and a line of WcDonald’s manga and anime films.
Over the past few decades, the fictitious spoof store WcDonald’s—also spelled “WacDonalds” and “Wacdnald”—has established itself as a staple in the backdrops of numerous well-known TV series, comic novels, and video games.
Its inception can be linked to the manga and anime series Cat’s Eye, where it initially surfaced in graphic novels published in 1981 and then again in episode 48 of a 1983 television version.
Since then, McDonald’s has appeared in a plethora of films, television shows, and books, such as the continuing manga magazine Otaku Elf, the anime series Sonic X, and the movie Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. Typical cameos include a brief view of the inverted arches on a crowded city street, people devouring hamburgers bearing the McDonald’s logo, or employees wearing the iconic red and yellow uniform.
The McDonald’s universe is now come to pass. Customers can purchase WcNuggets in-store, paired with a side of flavorful chili sauce, in redesigned WcDonald’s packaging that pays homage to fictitious versions. Japanese manga artist Acky Bright, who also created four digital manga for the partnership, was in charge of the unique branding.
A large robot known as WcDizer 3000 and a motley gang of McDonald’s employees are among the characters; according to Bright, he came up with them by “imagining real crew members who might actually be working in the store.”
In an email to Fast Company, Bright said, “Although I am a manga artist and frequently parody real brands to avoid legal issues, this occasion was unique because McDonald’s itself initiated the parody officially, a first of its kind globally.” “I purposefully included a lot of the vintage McDonald’s vibe into the design. Now that the “WcDonald’s” campaign has officially been launched, I’m curious to see how anime and manga will handle it going ahead.
Additionally, McDonald’s partnered with Studio Pierrot, a Japanese animation studio, to create four anime shorts for the campaign. Every McDonald’s episode was themed around a major anime topic, such as action, romance, fantasy, or mecha (short for mechanical; imagine Transformers). Pierrot is best known for its hugely famous show Naruto. Every week, a manga and an anime short will be released online and using QR codes on the physical packaging of the store.
JJ Healan, vice president of McDonald’s U.S. marketing: brand, content, and culture, outlined the motivation behind the ad in an email to Fast Company. “Maintaining genuine and profound relationships with our followers while integrating our brand into society is the key to success for a concept like McDonald’s,” Healan wrote. “We see beyond temporary sales windows, relying instead on enduring relationships and brand love to drive the business.”
For Bright, witnessing McDonald’s accept its made-up personality has been satisfying.
“It has been an honor and a purely enjoyable experience to be chosen for such an incredibly fun project, where the global brand seriously engages in parody,” Bright stated. “I’m still working on the last manga chapter as I respond to this interview, and even this time is enjoyable for me.”
