Saturday, May 2, 2015

McDonald's "Poltergeist" Tie-In Ad?

In this Poltergeist-themed joke/proposed ad for McDonald's, a family of vegans moves into the Poltergeist house, and they're haunted by Ronald McDonald, who appears out of nowhere offering them McDonald's sandwiches no matter where they go or what they do in the house. They open the laundry machine to do laundry, and out pops Ronald McDonald like a Jack in the Box, offering a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. They take a nap only to be awakened by Ronald McDonald tempting them with a Big Mac. And each time Ronald McDonald appears with some meaty offering, they look at the food and scream and run away. And as the vegan family runs away from the house, we see a line around the block to move into the house, and we see that there's a drive-through window that has magically appeared on the side of the house, and there's already a long line of cars waiting for their orders, and Ronald McDonald is operating the window serving food.

The announcer could suggest we "scare up" our favorite food at McDonald's.

(This ad is obviously based on the clown-themed ads for the new remake of Poltergeist, and it's also partly inspired by the classic retracted Little Caesar's ad from 1991 with the meat lover's pizza being delivered to a Vegetarian Society full of hippies. {Yes, I still remember that great ad! They never should have pulled it.})

This is that classic retracted "Meatsa Meatsa" ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4gQGGsCe_U

Actually, now that I think about it, this concept could work even better for advertising a brand of vegan food. The people in the house would be haunted by an evil Ronald McDonald-type fast food clown mascot who keeps trying to force them to eat greasy cheeseburgers all over the house; and in the kitchen, we'd see the ghostly specters of dead cows and chickens haunting the room, and when the people are revolted, the evil clown says: "If you can't take the meat, get out of the kitchen!" And then they run out of the house, and it has become a bloody slaughterhouse in appearance on the outside, and the evil Ronald McDonald-style clown leans out of a drive-through window that spontaneously grows out of the side of the house and harasses them as they try to flee this horrifying house. Then the announcer says to escape the bad juju of fast food meat meals and calm your soul with (whatever brand of) vegan entrees.