McDonald’s has reward two Filipino Americans who created their own advert that “pushes Asian representation”.
BBC reports that the two Filipino Americans who made their own McDonald’s advert to boost representation have been awarded $50,000.
After noticing a lack of Asian faces on the posters at his local McDonald’s in Houston, Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo created poster featuring themselves and sneakily hung it up in the restaurant.
The poster went unnoticed for two months. Eventually, McDonald’s responded.
“I got a call from Chris Stanley at McDonald’s corporate while I was eating with my friends,” Maravilla told the BBC. “My first thought was that I was in trouble.”
Stanley told him the company loved their stunt and invited him to an event held at the restaurant. The poster was removed and auctioned for charity.
“They had to take it down as they had renovations for the restaurant planned from months back,” Maravilla said.
The pair were presented with cheques for $25,000 on the Ellen DeGeneres Show last week.
“Meeting Ellen was insane,” Jevh said.
“McDonald’s loves customers like you,” DeGeneres told them. “They are committed to diversity and want to represent all their customers, so they are going to use the two of you in a marketing campaign.
“Since you’re in a campaign, they need to pay you, right? So you’re each getting a cheque for $25,000.”
Reflecting on his experience, Maravilla said, “it still feels so unreal.”
“These past few weeks have felt like a dream,” he added. “On Friday I went to the bank and put the $25,000 in my savings account. I never thought I would ever see a cheque for me that big.”
Maravilla plans to donate some of his money to a church in the Philippines.
McDonald’s also told the pair that they will star in a marketing campaign. “I feel I’ve made my mark with McDonald’s but I’d love to see more representation on TV and in Hollywood,” Maravilla said.
