Japanese Food Chain Launches Ad With Naked Ronald McDonald Featuring Fries As Pubic Hair

Few would associate Ronald McDonald with being “sexy” or “saucy”.

Yet one Japanese ad may soon change that.

Say What?

Popular Japanese Izakaya (casual pubs) chain Yotteba has released an ad showing a ripped Ronald McDonald wearing nothing but a red thong with fries sticking out of it.

It is Izakaya’s way of poking fun at the fast-food giant. Izakaya even added golden arches to its fries packaging to mimic the McDonald’s fries packaging:

The Backlash

Of course, the ad was sensationalised online and the internet was full of comments about the ad:

One Twitter user wrote “I’m haten’ it”, a play on McDonald’s popular tagline, “I’m lovin’ it”.

Another Twitter user wrote “So McDonald’s fries are Ronald’s pubes. Awesome”

“File this one under things that shouldn’t be sexy. Sexy Ronald McDonald,” wrote another Twitter user.

Where It All Started

The idea came from an artwork by New York-based artist Wizard Skull

View this post on Instagram

Free Friday. On bogart st outside Morgan stop by the giant missed connection. screen print on wood. #free #wood #bushwick

A post shared by Wizard Skull (@wizardskull) on Sep 12, 2014 at 6:55am PDT

The ad was first reported as being released by the Japanese McDonald’s on Delish.com

However, the New York Post confirmed with an official McDonald’s spokesperson that the ad way in no way associated with the fast-food giant.

Well, of course lah.

Not the First Time

This isn’t the first time that other food outlets have come to be associated with McDonald’s.

In 2009, A.M.S.P Suppiah, owner of Restoran McCurry, an Indian restaurant in Malaysia serving traditional Indian food, won an eight-year battle against the fast-food giant for the use of the prefix ‘Mc’.

Malaysia’s federal court ruled that McDonald’s could not appeal against the court’s verdict for Restoran McCurry to use the prefix “Mc”.

McCurry owner Mr Suppiah explained that “McCurry” is an abbreviation for Malaysian Chicken Curry.

McDonald’s was ordered to pay RM 10,000 (~S$3,294) to McCurry.

The court ruling said that McDonald’s does not have a monopoly over the prefix “Mc” and other restaurants could use it as long as they did not serve the same type of food.

In the end, nothing similar was found between McCurry and McDonald’s except for the “Mc” prefix, and there was no evidence to show that McCurry was imitating McDonald’s.

Want to Get Famous?

Without a doubt, riding on a famous brand or personality is the fastest route to free publicity and possibly becoming rich and famous.

However, copyright infringement can lead to long-drawn court battles.

Instead Google for “public domain pictures”, “public domain videos”, “public domain songs” or  “public domain music” when looking for content that you may want to edit and share. Use “public” platforms like Facebook, Imgur etc and do check on usage licenses where possible.

You could also do a Google Image Search that is sorted by usage rights. (Pictured Below)