A media design student created a fake McDonald’s poster and hung it up in a restaurant, where it went for almost two months without being noticed before he finally came clean on Twitter. Jevh Maravilla, a Filipino student living in Pearland, Texas, hung up the poster to make a point about Asian-American representation.
“I noticed there was a blank wall at McDonald’s so I decided to make this fake poster of me and my friend,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s now been 51 days since I hung it up.”
In order to hang the poster, Maravilla purchased a McDonald’s uniform from a second-hand store. The disguise also included a tie, a fake badge identifying him as a ‘regional interior coordinator’ and a walkie-talkie.
“We both can’t believe how much attention this has been getting. I hope this can open the eyes to not just McDonald’s, but other major companies can embrace different ethnicities,” Maravilla said.
The owner of the McDonald’s wasn’t mad at the prank at all.
“We take pride in highlighting diversity in every aspect of our restaurants,” said owner-operator Mariselle Quijano. “We applaud these students’ creativity and hope to see them in our restaurants again soon.”
The poster will remain up until this weekend, when renovations will result in a completely new fit-out. There will be no photos in the new restaurant. The two men have agreed to donate the poster for a fundraising auction for Ronald McDonald House.
