Mac Tonight

did you know that the average adult has 5 to 20 pounds of toxic poop in their body at any given moment ads we see them every day and when we do it's almost always against our will the average American is exposed to at least 5 000 ads per day if given the choice most of us would probably prefer to see Zero it turns out that 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 per day how many do we even register as anything more than white noise the vast majority of marketing campaigns are utterly forgettable and a 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 Beggars 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 Beggars 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 never to know what would eventually become of his creation while his story had ended Captain Max had only just begun [Music] 200 years later the Beggars Opera would experience a Revival in Germany the play would be retooled by Marxist playwright bertold 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 this darker 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 Paulson threatened to walk out of the production unless his character received a special introduction with very little time to spare composer Kurt wheel quickly devised what would become the most iconic musical number of the entire play The Ballad of Mack the Knife [Music] [Applause] a song that depicts Mac as 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 Fey 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 other countries 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 would put their own spin on the song but by far the most enduring version would be the one released by Bobby Darin in 1959. Bobby Darin singing Mack the Knife let's have a nice hand first foreign [Music] the single rocketed to the top of the charts in the U.S and UK cementing Mack the Knife as an international phenomenon Darren's big head resembled the popular genre of crooner music songs characterized by a smooth soft-spoken male singer 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 Americana but considering the sanitized culture of 1950s America it's unusual how something as dark as Mack the 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 it's not a stretch to suggest that Mack 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 hey Jimmy sing Back the Knife and because he wanted to hang out with us he built it right out [Music] 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 a meteoric rise in the United States at the turn of the 20th century a new food item was quickly picking up steam in the American Cuisine the 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 hamburger had to do with 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 fast food 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 one simple Vision 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 compared to other disciplines 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 the power of marketing relies on infiltrating the GUI Center of human desire it attempts to deliver us our brand as fantasies to exploit our deepest fears and insecurities the purpose of advertising is not to give people what they want but to redefine the meaning of want most products and services in the economy are totally Superfluous they offer the customer 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 more than McDonald's 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 across the 60s and 70s 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 throne the 1980s were truly a landmark time in advertising as newly Titanic Brands fought for control over a nation of consumers 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 fortunately for McDonald's an unexpected flash of inspiration would come from their biggest business partner Max Headroom here with this is my guest in 1985 Coca-Cola was looking to regain momentum following the rocky launch of New Coke they would find a rather unorthodox solution in Max 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 Mac tonight life [Music] come on make it back to life [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] time in his long and convoluted history Mack was once again on top of the world 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 and something blue while conceiving the ad marketing executive Brad ball and director Peter katrolis sought to create a veritable mctopia 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 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 given the franchise the boosted needed to pull away from its competitors and in Paris you can buy a beer in McDonald's I don't know I didn't go on a Burger King the character of Mac tonight was so popular that scheduled meet and greets were drawn over a thousand visitors from LA to Boca Raton 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 Mac appeared roaring's success was sure to follow by the end of the 80s he was basking on cloud nine lifting a fast food Empire and its investors all the way to the moon but in the midst of the company's greatest marketing campaign to date not all was well in mcdonaldland by becoming the face of the franchise Mac 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 as Faye would have it the corporate gravy train that he now represented would soon betray him as Mack tonight was sacrificed for the system [Music] 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 Duren 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 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 Darin 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 had McDonald's fought 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 who would have 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 Mac tonight starting in the 90s they would install several Mac animatronics which played retro hits in stores across the country during this time Mack would still occasionally appear in commercials including a brief campaign in 1997. that year would also see Mack make his debut in NASCAR appearing as a select sponsor on Bill Elliott's number 94 Ford in 2007 20 years after his National debut a CG Mac would suddenly resurface on the international market announcing 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 characters 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 in the mid-2000s the internet Revolution was in full swing a popular site at the time was the online community ytmnd 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 and D just so happened to involve a certain McDonald's mascot users have begun posting Gifts of Mac tonight as early as 2006 but the characters downward descent into degeneracy would truly begin in the spring of 2007 all due to an individual by the name of Farkle 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 as is the case with many things on the internet what began as simply goofing around quickly devolved into something very profane and very offensive farkle's side 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 Mac 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 Overlord together they would help establish a sophisticated lore around the character which was unofficially referred to as the mooniverse in the following months the moon crew would amass dozens of members who made themselves known as a nuisance to the entire platform moonman's sites 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 re-uploaded to YouTube a platform with far stricter rules than YTM and due to the extremely vulgar content of the genre most most of the YouTube uploads wouldn't last long before getting flagged and removed for Community guidelines violations but despite their short life spans 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 in ATT Banning the term moon man from their text-to-speech service even ytmnd 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 moonman was not going anywhere and for a new generation who had never seen Mac tonight and was the only version of whom they ever knew the racist megalomaniac would persist into the next decade where he eventually reprized his former role as a mascot this time representing 4chan's Politically Incorrect board and in 2019 the meme was officially inducted into the Anti-Defamation leagues list of hate symbols an ugly ending to one of the most loved characters of all time following the controversial turn McDonald's would distance itself from their former marketing Juggernaut nearly all of the Mac Tonight statues and animatronics have since been dismantled and the character has remained absent from any official promotional materials since 2010 possibly the last remaining artifact of Mac's glorious rain can be found sitting high up in the Raptors at the entertainment McDonald's in Orlando Florida oh Mac where did we go so wrong [Applause] tonight's precipitous Fall From Grace may have been painful to watch but oddly enough it helped the character achieve something that very few others could when you look back at the very beginning of Mac's Journey he was created to illustrate one essential conflict the struggle of the masses versus the rich and Powerful the Beggars Opera told the tale of an unrepentant Thief one who was no less virtuous than the system which outlawed him it made a bold statement that the only difference between a thief and an aristocrat is the number of zeros in their bank account before anything can be stolen we must choose to own it in the first place across most of human history ideas were not stolen only borrowed we were all free to sing whatever song and recite whatever Story We desired then came the age of mass consumption where we decided to turn all of our favorite stories songs and characters into Commodities we now live in a grim era for Creative discretion where any remotely nuanced ideas ground up and mass-produced like a fast food assembly line a character like mac was borrowed and borrowed and borrowed until all of a sudden it was owned as of now nearly every fictional entity that pervades our culture has succumbed to the same fate just another hopeless Cog in the money-making machine but by some extraordinary Cosmic coincidence Mac was different it may have been through the ugliest means possible but by God we stole Mac back he was returned to where he always belonged in The Loving Hands of the masses from Captain Mac to Mac the knife to Mac tonight and even moon man he has always been destined to live in the public domain the story of Mack is a remarkable case study in the evolution of media it speaks to our ability to reimagine and recontextualize ideas into something entirely different if there was one thing about Mac that stayed the same throughout his 300 year-long transformation it was that he absolutely stole the show no matter where he wound up even in a medium as hated as advertising the truth is did you look around at advertising today it's all pretty boring these days it's hard to say what marketing even is anymore it mostly resembles a murky Haze of Corporations half-heartedly virtue signaling against the very issues they helped to create most people would agree that advertising today has never been more insufferable the very same could probably be said about pretty much everything else in the world too now more than ever we could all benefit from a little bit of nostalgia and for Generations perhaps no other character has been better at delivering a blast from the past than that surreal singing moon no one can predict exactly where and when Matt will show up next but if one thing's for sure we most likely Haven't Seen the Last of him [Music] so you've been gone for a while yeah you could say that three months since the last upload what exactly have you been up to well to tell you the truth I've been in a bit of a slump lately merchandise sales have been way down and management is starting to get a bit agitated so I've been traveling around trying to get my mojo back so they just let you disappear like that from once at a time it may seem a little unorthodox but trust me it's all part of the process any numbskull can chug a bunch of caffeine and pump out a list of ideas but the truly great ideas require a bit more composure you have to detach your mind from the burdens of everyday life immerse yourself in a strange and unfamiliar territory wander far enough and you'll find what you're looking for [Music] seems like a pretty convoluted way to come up with a new shirt design I hope you at least figured out something good my journey brought me to some of the greatest creative minds that mankind has ever known it was there where I studied the ultimate limits of proportion form and aesthetic Beauty then one moment after soaking it all in I got it and that's how I came up with my greatest t-shirt design yet I call it amp tonight wait so your whole spiritual Epiphany was to trace over a Mac Tonight poster what kind of an amateur do you take me for no I hired an Indonesian guy on Fiverr and he traced it for me you can't be serious No One's Gonna possibly want to buy this I think you'll find that our Focus testing was overwhelmingly positive so what do you think yeah I mean it looks great uh why is Mac Tonight green though this whole thing is just nonsense how are people supposed to know what M tonight even means way ahead of you buddy I'm gonna put together an entire video about the detailed history of Mac tonight and then when the viewers are all nice and satisfied it's time to exit through the gift shop and say hello to empt tonight I don't know I'm not quite sure if this is the kind of thing your audience is looking for come on this is a good product I know it is but the real question is do you the new EMP tonight merchandise collection now available at crowdmade.com and Clement s [Music] tonight [Music]

Channel: EmpLemon

Views: 2,082,076

Keywords: McDonald's, Mac Tonight, Vaporwave, Company History, Rise and Fall

Id: Jp35RSGt_Dg

Length: 29min 16sec (1756 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 12 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/mindbleach]

Video: Hey you know that weird shark interlude from that old-ass children's cartoon with the Loch Ness monster puppet and the squinty cabin boy?

Me: Yeah...?

Video: That was also vicious anti-capitalist satire.

Me: Oh, for-- I'll get the chart.

Popular leftist criticism that went over my head
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[u/ExpertOpposite]

Man that Saint Pepsi track is a banger. Single-handedly redeemed Mac

[u/ricenoodlestw]

emp does great work.

i too was elated to hear saint pepsi at the end, as some one else pointed out.

for me, enjoy yourself has become synonymous with mac tonight.

[u/World-Tight]

This is why we can't have nice things.

[u/zxyzyxz]

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