Rail against routine

US – Taco Bell is raising a call to arms against fast food routine in a new Orwellian advert that paints McDonald’s as a police state.

• Advert celebrates the Mexican-themed fast-food chain’s first venture into the breakfast market
• Self-styled underdog Taco Bell is undermining the stranglehold of McDonald’s on the fast food sector

Breakfast Defectors taps into the less than perfect relationship most of us have with the fast food giant, victims of convenience despite our resentment about the way the chain has homogenised high streets across the world. 

Created by agency Deutsch, the advert subverts the double-speak of the famous McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It campaign in a dystopian re-imagining of a society dominated by routine and ruled by a maniacal Ronald. In the ad the heroes escape the grey uniformity of the cloistered city via a rip-roaring chase scene past treacherous ball pits and exploding big macs to evade the clutches of Ronald’s henchmen, finally reaching the promised land of breakfast diversity. 

Accompanied by a microsite, styled as the secret message board of the Breakfast Defectors, Taco Bell is playing on its self-styled position as the fast food underdog in a captivating way.

The Big Picture: In the Turbulent Teens brands are tapping into the uncertainty of the future by imagining not-too-distant worlds of extremes. Think about how your brand can play on consumer anxiety using our Chasm Culture microtrend.