McDonald’s latest campaign defaces impressionist paintings and inserts the brand’s iconic symbols into rebellious painters’ masterpieces.
Marketing agency DDB Athens has reconceived Impressionism and placed the golden arches of the McDonald’s franchise into historical paintings for its latest “Meant to be Classic” ad campaign.
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The campaign elevates the American brand to a “classic” with the unveiling of a series of ads based on impressionist paintings revisited with the restaurant’s emblematic symbols. In the campaign, the brand’s elements interact with impressionist artworks from Manet, Van Gogh, and Renoir, using the original pieces as a canvas for advertising expression.
In Édouard Manet’s In the Conservatory and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, for example, characters interact with the branded fast food elements. They hold large cokes while standing over half-eaten McNuggets.
In Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Figures on the Beach, ladies hold McDonald’s takeaway bags as they prepare for an oceanside picnic. The marketing agency also revisited Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic self-portrait featuring a single bacon slice on his collar.
The agency seeks to build upon the revolutionary spirit of the talented and reckless oil painters, who in the 19th century France rose against harsh opposition from the art community for violating conventional rules. By doing so, it aims to assert McDonald’s as a modern classic.
The campaign project was directed by Costas Vanis and Eirini Tzioti, respectively, in the role of executive creative director and senior art director at DDB Athens. The illustrations were curated under the direction of Gerasimos Chatzis.
In the past, McDonald’s and TBWA\Paris similarly used impressionistic visuals of stormy skies and rain-drenched windows to make the case for ordering McDelivery service on a rainy day.