Nielsen reported that year that the Asian-American population represented about 7% of the U.S. population and had approximately $986 billion in consumer buying power. Nielsen also described Asian Americans as a rapidly growing and increasingly influential consumer group.
The issue was therefore not simply symbolic.
For companies attempting to communicate with the public, advertising determines who customers see associated with a brand—and, indirectly, who appears to belong in the everyday American consumer landscape.
Research and industry analysis have continued to examine this issue in subsequent years.
A later academic study published in the International Journal of Advertising examined Asian-American representation in advertising over several decades, including advertisements from major U.S. brands between 2010 and 2019. The research reflects the continuing scholarly interest in not only whether Asian Americans appear in advertising, but also how prominently and in what contexts they are portrayed.
Maravilla and Toledo were not conducting an academic study, of course.
They were two friends staring at a blank wall.
Their response was much simpler:
If nobody had put people like them in the advertisement, they would put themselves there.
McDonald’s Responds
Going viral can be unpredictable.
The friends had installed an unauthorized advertisement inside private business premises while one of them was dressed as an employee.
It was therefore reasonable for them to wonder whether McDonald’s would be angry.
Instead, the response was remarkably positive.
Mariselle Quijano, the owner of the restaurant, publicly praised their creativity. CNN reported that she said the restaurant took pride in highlighting diversity and applauded what the students had done.
McDonald’s corporate communications also supported the franchise’s response.
The story continued to grow.
Then it caught the attention of one of the biggest daytime television programs in America.
Maravilla and Toledo were invited onto The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
What happened there transformed their prank into something much bigger.
A $50,000 Surprise
On the program, the friends explained how they had created and installed their fake advertisement.
Then came the surprise.
They were told that McDonald’s wanted them to participate in an upcoming marketing campaign.
And because they were going to appear in a real campaign, the company was going to pay them.
Each friend received $25,000.
Together, that amounted to $50,000.
The irony was almost perfect.
Two friends had secretly created an unauthorized McDonald’s advertisement because they wanted to see themselves represented.
Now McDonald’s was paying them to appear in an official advertisement.
Reports from CBS, ABC13 Houston, Eater Houston and other outlets confirmed the $25,000 payments to each man and McDonald’s plan to feature them in a marketing campaign.
But the story did not stop with the oversized checks.
McDonald’s actually followed through.
From Fake Poster to Real McDonald’s Commercial
A few months later, Maravilla and Toledo made the transition from unofficial poster models to genuine McDonald’s advertising talent.
In November 2018, McDonald’s released advertising for its Triple Breakfast Stacks.
There, among the people appearing in the campaign, were the same two friends who had secretly installed their own poster months earlier.
Houston Chronicle reporting said they had been flown to Santa Monica, California, in October to participate in the shoot.
For Toledo, the experience was almost impossible to believe.
“It’s all because we put up a poster,” he said in behind-the-scenes material reported by Eater Houston.
McDonald’s also publicly addressed the meaning behind the episode.
In a statement reported by Eater, the company said diversity in casting and language was a core principle intended to reflect its customers. The company also said it appreciated the perspective and conversation Maravilla and Toledo had started through their poster.
The fake advertisement had effectively become a job application nobody had asked for.