Fast food or Disruptive Art? TBWA\ANG goes viral with Banksy tribute

Whether you are a fan of the art world or not, you can’t have failed to notice the uproar caused recently at Sotheby’s when the renewed and reclusive street artist Banksy shredded a piece of art, “Girl with a Balloon” that had just been sold for over £1 million.

Social media went into overload with support for Banksy’s act coming from all angles. Picking up on the trend, Richard Agius, Creative Director at TBWA\ANG – Malta’s 50-year strong creative communications agency – decided to put his own creative spin on the shredding.

Using the iconic image of a box of McDonald’s fries, the Banksy image was reinvented to represent fries being cut. While most memes and ‘copycat’ images came out after the event on Monday, the post went out on Sunday showing the commitment to being on-trend and staying ahead of the curve that the agency embodies.

Global reach

The disruptive idea certainly did the trick, being shared internationally by creative publications Adweek and Creativepool while even being picked up by the Washington Post’s blog. McDonalds Paris and Orleans also shared the image which was originally shared on Instagram before hitting other platforms.

Agius states: “Banksy is the epitome of disruption so it was fitting to honour his art this way as well as our own creative thinking on behalf of one of our brand partners. Art and brands are part of culture, not just advertising, so this was a way to reflect that.”

He also highlighted the importance of the TBWA Disruption mentality such as the DISRUPTION LIVE tool which allows creatives to keep on the ball for global trigger points and act upon them quickly.

It seems that disruption in all forms is able to cause a stir. More info about TBWA\ANG can be found at tbwa-ang.com