average adult has 5 to 20 pounds of toxic poop in their body at any given moment adds we see them every day and when we do it's almost always against our will the average american is exposed to at least five thousand ads per day if given the choice stays worse four years for degree zero doesn't know anything most people don't like being interrupted every five seconds by a manipulative sales pitch any sane individual would be far better off avoiding ads whenever possible it's for this reason that marketing is such a tall order how do you make people pay attention to something that no one wants to see out of the 5 000 ads we see well i have a glitch browser has this thing on it i don't know what that is it's like a bug it came with the computer and i just don't see them today how many do we even register is anything more than white noise the vast majority of marketing campaigns are utterly forgettable and the handful of ads that actually manage to stand out usually do so for the wrong reasons however once in a blue moon we'll encounter an ad that extraordinarily beats the odds one that we remember for long after whatever they were selling ceased to exist in 1986 america's most powerful restaurant empire deployed a marketing campaign so brilliant that it still has a place in our culture more than 35 years later but the full story of one of advertising's most timeless mascots goes back a bit further than 35 years it all began with an englishman by the name of john gay who in 1728 would unveil the play of the century the beggar's opera was a theatrical performance unlike anything else in its time it was an opera that set out to make a mockery of opera itself it not only ridiculed the conventions of the medium but served as an irreverent critique of the aristocratic world it often glorified the beggar's opera was one of the first definitive examples of counterculture one that satirized issues of wealth and corruption among england's most powerful institutions the show was beloved by audiences and essentially became the first opera to belong to the common man this resounding success was due in large part to the play's main character captain mckeith considered by some to be one of literature's first anti-heroes portrayed as a womanizing thief mckeith was a character of questionable virtue and undeniable passion one who succeeded in winning over the audience despite his inherent vices the beggar's opera was the most revolutionary play of its time and would go on to inspire a whole new genre of satirical comedy in theater just four years after releasing his magnum opus john gay would pass away at the age of 47 while his story had ended captain max had only just begun what is the advertisement 200 years later the beggar's opera would experience a revival in germany the play would be retooled by marxist playwright bertolt brecht who intended to punctuate its anti-capitalist themes now renamed to the three penny opera the show would once again captivate the masses captain mack would return to his leading role now wielding a far more unsavory demeanor oh i did it every version of the character would henceforth be known by another name mack the knife the new moniker quickly caught on thanks to an unexpected addition to the play shortly before the premiere lead actor harold would walk out of the production unless his character received a special introduction with very little dude composer kurt wheel quickly devised what would become the most iconic musical number of the entire play the ballad of mack the knife a song that depicts mack is a serial killer who stabs his victims to death and dumps their bodies in the river you might be thinking that this far more sinister version of the character would have made him somewhat unpopular but as faye would have it the exact opposite was true after its successful debut in germany the three penny opera would soon be translated and performed in numerous others i know they're going with this by the 1950s the play had arrived in the united states where it began a six-year run as an off-broadway show at around the same time musicians began recording their own versions of the play's defining song louis armstrong's 1955 cover of mack the knife established the tune as a jazz staple over the years more than a dozen artists i think people are so bored and not a lot of things to enjoy by far the most enduring version would be the one released by bobby darin in 1959. bobby darren singing mack the knife let's have a nice handful the single rocketed to the top of the charts in the us and uk but charging mac the knife as an international phenomenon darren's big hit resembled the popular genre of crooner music songs characterized by a smooth soft-spoken meal paired with big band jazz instrumentals the style was most closely associated with performers like frank sinatra and bing crosby two figures who are inseparable from 20th century but considering the sanitized culture of 1950s america it's unusual how something as dark as magna knife wound up being such a mainstream hit in a time when you weren't allowed to show a toilet on tv it's somewhat shocking to consider that one of its most popular songs happened to be about a serial killer just like the case with nearly all pop music today most listeners just never pay attention to the lyrics with that being said as they should it's not a stretch to suggest that mac the knife was essentially the pumped up kicks of the boomer generation there was just this guy in my neighborhood used to call him jimmy smash call me say hey jimmy sing mac the knife and because he wanted to hang out with us he'd belt it right out i don't get it in just 30 years the song had reached unimaginable heights from its humble german origin and coincidentally at around the same time a certain other german creation would also experience immediate spongebob at the turn of the 20th century a new food item was quickly picking up steam in the american cuisine hamburger delicacy was thought to have been brought over by immigrants originating from hamburg germany of course this exciting new sandwich would soon become known as the hamburger and throughout the history of the american diet no other food would be more influential the success of the hamburgers died two key advantages it was a hearty meal that could be prepared very quickly and very cheaply the founding tenets of america's most famous industry hamburgers are good though in 1961 businessman ray kroc completed what was essentially a hostile takeover of the mcdonald brothers in their chain of california restaurants under his leadership mcdonald's would revolutionize the american food industry with once mcdonald's is so good the idea that a customer could visit any restaurant in the country and order an identical sandwich after a decade of aggressive expansion the golden arches would span from sea to shining sea mcdonald's had become one of the first truly national brands in america the new fast food empire ushered in a new era of commerce and along with it a new challenge in marketing sell me this pen oh yeah oh yeah this is so bad advertising is relatively new the practice only began to be seriously studied at around the turn of the 20th century but while research into the field may still be quite young it all seeks to answer the same age-old question both the art and the science of advertising exist to figure out what people want selling a product requires so much more than simply making people aware of its existence it's kind of hard though what do people really want not what they say they want because everybody knows that whatever whatever whatever they say they want is dog what do they actually want relies on infiltrating the gooey center of human desire it attempts to deliver us our grandest fantasies to exploit our deepest fears and insecurities the purpose of advertising to give people what you want but to redefine the meaning of want most products and services in the economy are totally superfluous they are what i mean customer what i mean is they like like the ford quotes you know if they gave them what they want they wanted faster horses or whatever right but he made the car instead that's what they really wanted they wanted to go faster how did you get there you gave them what they want not what they said they wanted no intrinsic value versus any replacement level item it is the job of the advertiser to manufacture that value to convince the customer that a product is more than a product and perhaps no other company understood this concept which sought to brand itself as not just a restaurant but an american institution mcdonald's prospered by getting working class families out of their dining rooms and into their restaurants the golden arches came to symbolize an oasis of comfort and familiarity no matter how far you were from home you were never too far from a mcdonald's yeah hey men dude mcdonald's marketing acumen brought them tremendous success success which quickly drew in competitors and soon enough the franchise had several challengers to their fast food vernon was never a real competitor though let's be honest the 1980s were truly a landmark time in advertising as newly titanic brands the marketing battles fought during this time period would dictate the industry leaders of the 21st century companies could see that valuable market share was up for grabs based solely on their ability to sell to the american people as the dominant force in fast food mcdonald's quickly found themselves with a target on their back all of a sudden the franchise was under fire from an onslaught of commercials attacking both the quality and quantity of their products mcdonald's was thrust into an advertising arms race spending millions on radical new campaigns of their own however despite their best efforts to subdue their rivals the company was still losing ground in order to protect their empire they had to start thinking outside the box wendy's dairy queen dude dude guys where i'm from dairy queen never did anything else but ice cream anybody remember this any canadians yeah or quebec people don't believe dairy queens was only ice cream fortunately for mcdonald's an unexpected flash of inspiration would come from their biggest business partner penis hi max headroom here with this is my guest in 1985 coca-cola was looking to regain momentum following the rocky launch of new coke oh no an orthodox solution in mac's headroom an obscure experimental character who had recently sprung up on the british airwaves the virtual talking head replaced bill cosby as coca-cola's spokesperson a change that was met with massive success coke had proven the value of manufacturing a cult icon inspiring mcdonald's to brainstorm a character of their own like many great creative minds before them they decided to borrow from the past and in the winter of 1986 america would be introduced to mack tonight i'm for the fourth time in his long and convoluted i don't get it mac was once again i don't know you know i don't know mcdonald's had deployed a variety of corporate mascots before but none moved the needle quite like mac it was an ad campaign unlike any other in the company's history the anthropomorphic crescent moon was a surreal window into the soul of american enterprise it was bold decadent and idealistic a perfect marriage of nostalgia and pure fantasy for the fast food eating public mac tonight truly delivered something old something new something borrowed i'm not mentors into this while conceiving the ad marketing executive brad ball controllers sought to create a veritable myktopia the hand-built miniatures and practical costume work gives mac tonight another worldly aesthetic a parallel reality where mcdonald's has single-handedly ushered in a new epoch of human advancement a glorious vision of a society that had long since transcended its struggles with crime poverty and especially hunger it was the greasy delicious future that all of us needed but none of us deserved for a los angeles marketing firm dmjc it was lightning in a bottle what was originally planned as a regional campaign quickly expanded nationwide the ad made a huge impression on consumers with some stores reporting more than a 10 percent increase in dinner time business mcdonald's brand recognition skyrocketed giving the franchise the boost it needed to pull away from its competitors and in paris you can buy a beer in mcdonald's oh the character of mack tonight was so popular that scheduled meet and greets would draw in over a thousand visitors from la to boca raton what over the next three years actor and contortionist doug jones would strap into the moon costume for 25 more commercials the popularity of the campaign would mark a turning point in his career today he is best known for his leading role of the amphibian man in academy award-winning film the shape of water it seemed that no matter where or when mack appeared roaring success was sure to follow by the end of the 80s he was basking on nine lifting a fast food empire and its investors all the way to the moon but in the midst by telling sony's greatest marketing campaign to date not all was well in mcdonaldland by becoming the face of the franchise mack had strayed a bit too far from his roots the character was originally conceived as a critique of wealth and capitalism only to eventually wind up as the mascot for the most capitalistic company on the planet the once iconoclastic captain mack had effectively sold out and unfortunately for him the pendulum was about to swing in the other direction oh okay what does that mean would have it twice in october 1989 dodd darren filed a 10 million dollar lawsuit against mcdonald's claiming that mack tonight had infringed on his father's song at face value it looked like a pretty nonsensical confrontation bobby durrant had passed away more than 15 years earlier and his defining single wasn't exactly the most original composition he didn't write the lyrics he wasn't the first to perform the song he hadn't single-handedly invented the crooner's style like many works involving mac it was derivative content that just so happened to be in the right place at the right time it's hard to say what bobby darren even owned that mcdonald's could have possibly infringed upon but due to the oppressive nature of our wonderful copyright system not even fortune 500 companies are exempt from getting pushed around by frivolous greed bought the lawsuit they could have very easily won but they decided that the legal expense was simply not worth the trouble to save an ad campaign that had pretty much run its course with very little to gain in court mcdonald's chose to bite the bullet and so after nearly four years of service mack tonight's golden run on the airwaves would come to an abrupt end but they smoked thought that after all this time mack finally got to experience what it was like to get stabbed in the back while their fallen mascot was no longer allowed to perform his signature jingles mcdonald's wouldn't entirely give up on mack tonight starting in the 90s they would install several mac animatronics which played retro hits in stores across the country during this act would still occasionally appear in commercials including a brief campaign in 1997. that's just weird you would also see mac make his debut in nascar appearing as a select sponsor on bill elliot's number 94 ford in 2007 20 years after his national debut a cg mac would suddenly resurface on the international market and how was the opening of 24-hour locations in southeast asia but beyond these sparse sightings mack tonight was essentially retired left to ride off into the sunset as a marketing martyr and a hamburger hero an ending that was a little too good to be true by transforming mac into the perfect company mascot mcdonald's had to omit the character's more distasteful attributes it was a character who was never designed to be a hero and one who had spent the past two decades running from the sins of his past the truth is that mack had built his legacy not through fame but through notoriety in a shocking turn of events everyone would be rudely reminded about the dark side of the moon i don't get it did it i didn't in the mid 2000s the internet revolution was in full swing a popular site at the time was the online community ytm nd a place where users could create their own web pages with looping images and audio the site quickly became a prominent spawning ground for various memes and subcultures and in the wild west era of online moderation practically nothing was off limits possibly the most infamous series of events to ever come out of ytm d just so happened to involve a certain mcdonald's mascot users have begun posting gifts of mack tonight as early as 2006 but the character's downward descent into degeneracy would truly begin in the spring of 2007 all due to an individual by the name of fargo starting in june he created several sites combining mac tonight with att mike a text-to-speech bot that could be made to say anything the user desired the king is as is the case which method is on the internet what began as simply goofing around quickly devolved into something very profane and very offensive farkle sights soon inspired a variety of imitators looking to make their own twisted interpretations of the once family-friendly character this heinous new alter-ego of mack tonight came to be known by a different moniker moon man a name that would live on in infamy it started with a few racially insensitive chants and quickly escalated to full-blown song covers advocating for crimes against humanity some of these songs were so hideously obscene that they have since been expunged from all but the grittiest corners of the web as the meme grew in notoriety so too did the scope of its contributors in 2008 several of the most prolific moon man posters would form a faction known as the moon crew a collection of users dedicated to the advancement of their new lunar right so third parties took over the main image of the character right again overlord together they would help establish a sophisticated lore around the character which was unofficially referred to as the mooniverse that annoying in the following months the moon crew would amass dozens of members who made themselves known as a nuisance to the entire platform moon man's sights were being created with such abundance that they began to draw the attention of outside forces during this time many of the most popular moon man edits would be frequently a platform with far stricter rules than ytm d due to the extremely vulgar content of the genre most of the youtube uploads wouldn't last long before getting flagged and removed for community guidelines violations but despite their short lifespans the sheer amount of traffic on youtube meant that it was the most visible place for the public to discover the shocking fate of the fast food legend evidently mcdonald's and a t must have received some complaints over the meme with mcdonald's issuing copyright strikes and 18t banning the term moon man from their text-to-speech service even ytm and d attempted to ban the moon crew from the platform but with limitless accounts at their disposal they could stick around for as long as they pleased despite their best efforts to quell the movement the downfall of mack tonight could not be stopped moon man was not going anywhere and for a new generation who had never seen mack tonight it was the only version of him they ever knew the racist megalomaniac would persist into the next decade where you guys i think and it is kind of whatever he eventually reprised i gotta get it this time representing 4chan that was good but it's like i don't know it seems like it's not going anywhere politically incorrect boards no there's not 2019. was officially inducted into the anti-defamation league's list of hate symbols an ugly ending to one of the most beloved characters i enjoyed it it was kind of whatever though i i can't get the point though it was pretty good though i'm not gonna finish it though it's not it's not like the board ape it's not the same thing at all a third party using something as a vehicle and um creating something not it's not is tonight.

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