When Backrooms, A24’s adaptation of the viral horror phenomenon created by Kane Parsons, hit theaters, brands quickly found ways to join the conversation. But few did it as cleverly as McDonald’s, which transformed one of its most familiar spaces into something deeply unsettling: a Backrooms-inspired PlayPlace.
Born from a 2019 post on 4chan, the Backrooms concept has evolved into a full-blown internet horror genre.
Endless yellow hallways, empty office spaces, fluorescent lighting, and a lingering sense of unease have made it one of the most recognizable pieces of online folklore.
Now, as the franchise expands into film, McDonald’s has found a surprisingly fitting way to participate.
A Found Footage Horror Film Set Inside McDonald’s
On May 29, the same day the movie premiered, McDonald’s posted a short analog horror-style video on X titled You’ve Been Here Before.
Accompanied by the caption, “chat, did I just noclip?”, the video follows a wandering camera through a distorted McDonald’s environment that feels ripped straight from the Backrooms universe. Yellow walls stretch endlessly. Empty PlayPlace furniture sits abandoned. A ball pit becomes strangely ominous. And just before the video ends, a familiar purple figure appears in the distance, strongly resembling Grimace.
The execution perfectly mirrors the aesthetics that have made Backrooms videos so popular online, blending found footage techniques with the uncanny atmosphere fans expect.
The Brilliant Insight Behind the Campaign
What makes the activation work is a simple realization: McDonald’s PlayPlaces were already a little bit Backrooms.
For many millennials and Gen Z consumers, childhood memories of PlayPlaces are strangely liminal. Bright yellow interiors, artificial lighting, maze-like structures, empty seating areas during off-hours, and an overall sense of surreal familiarity all align surprisingly well with the visual language of the Backrooms.
Rather than inventing something entirely new, McDonald’s simply highlighted a connection that people had subconsciously felt for years.
The title of the video, You’ve Been Here Before, reinforces that idea. The horror comes not from entering an unknown place, but from recognizing one.
Speaking the Language of Internet Culture
The campaign’s timing was far from accidental.
Released alongside the film’s opening weekend, the activation taps directly into the culture surrounding the Backrooms community. Beyond the visual references, McDonald’s also embraced the fandom’s vocabulary, using terms like “noclip,” a reference to the fictional way people accidentally enter the Backrooms universe.
The brand even nods to a long-running internet joke suggesting that a fully operational McDonald’s exists somewhere within Level 0 of the Backrooms labyrinth.
By leaning into fan theories, community language, and established internet lore, McDonald’s avoided feeling like an outsider trying to capitalize on a trend. Instead, it felt like a participant who understood the assignment.
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