A McDonald’s Poster Prank Scored $50,000 For the Perps

Maybe you’ve heard about this prank already, but if not, here’s a summary of the silliness that went down: Jevh Maravilla, a 21-year-old student at the University of Houston, was at McDonald’s when he noticed a lack of Asian representation in the store’s marketing materials on the walls. He and a friend decided to take matters into their own hands by shooting their own McDonald’s-style promotional photo, blow it up into a large poster that would fit on one of that particular location’s empty walls, and sneak it into the restaurant by posing as a “regional interior coordinator” for McDonald’s. His plan worked perfectly, and he got his virality when he Tweeted photos of the poster after it had been on display in the restaurant for 51 days (via Twisted Sifter).

i noticed there was a blank wall at mcdonald’s so i decided to make this fake poster of me and my friend. It’s now been 51 days since i hung it up. pic.twitter.com/5OTf5aR4vm

— JΞVH M (@Jevholution) September 3, 2018

It’s a pretty wild story, one that was interesting enough to land the two a guest appearance on the prank-loving Ellen DeGeneres’ show. After talking about the gag and going through the whole process, Ellen gave them an exciting surprise: In addition to a billboard outside the Ellen studios featuring their original poster photoshopped with Ellen edited in, the guys also found out that McDonald’s was hiring them for a marketing campaign, giving them each $25,000 for the work. Not a bad payout for a prank that they thought might get them in trouble.

Featured image: Jevholution