People Are Furious About A New McDonald’s Ad For A Bizarre Reason

On one side, there are fans of Edgar Wright on Twitter who seem to feel that the directed has lowered himself in some way by producing commercial work for McDonald’s, with some stating that he might have gotten a paycheck from the Golden Arches, but had lost “Film Twitter.” Others seem to be upset with the perceived quality of the commercial, implying that the director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead had lost his touch.

Then, on the other side, there are Twitter users and Edgar Wright fans who are pointing out that it is actually very common for critically beloved filmmakers to direct commercials for hire, pointing out examples like David Lynch’s Barilla pasta ad from 1993, Martin Scorsese’s American Express commercials in 2004, and Steven Spielberg’s 1994 ad for British Petroleum. 

Still others pointed out that the McDonald’s commercial in question was actually highly unusual for the massive fast-food chain, in that it did not actually show any food in it and the entire short was themed around the Swiss electronic band Yello’s 1985 single “Oh Yeah,” best known for its use in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. While Edgar Wright is not particularly known for his work in commercials, he is definitely known for his highly rhythmic editing and use of pop music in his films.

In some ways, this seems more like a Wright film than it does a McDonald’s ad, but either way, it seems people have very strong feelings about it. Edgar Wright’s most recent film, Last Night in Soho, was released in 2021 and starred Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, and Thomas McKenzie in a dark supernatural thriller. It also became a notable flop, grossing $23 million against a $43 million budget. It is likely that the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the poor financial showing of the film, and it would seem difficult to hold it against Edgar Wright to take some quick commercial work after a flop of that magnitude.

Edgar Wright is currently in development on a remake of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 science fiction action film The Running Man (itself loosely based on a Stephen King novel). The original Running Man was in many ways a satire of consumerist culture and commercial-driven game shows, which makes the timing of this particular McDonald’s ad pretty amusing on one level. For at least a little while, people are probably going to be a little upset about Edgar Wright’s choices, but we’ll just have to see what they say when his next project comes out.