MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Anime and manga often skirt copyright around popular brands by drawing recognizable versions but ever so slightly changed. Colors and pronunciations remain in the same vein but it’s a distinctly different entity, legally. But the viewer will know the kind of associations and connotations that the parodied brand is supposed to evoke.
One of the most popular ones is McDonald’s, with the golden arches inverted to be a W-shape, giving rise to WcDonald’s. WcDonald’s has been depicted in anime and manga as early as the eighties, with classic series like City Hunter featuring their characters feasting on “Big Wacs” in WcDonald’s branches in fictional Tokyo.
McDonald’s is now making the WcDonald’s brand a reality in over 30 markets worldwide, including The Philippines. In a collaboration with Japanese illustrator Acky Bright and noted animation studio Studio Pierrot, McDonald’s is making WcDonald’s-themed exclusive menu items, illustrations, merchandise and animated shorts.
In a nod to how the store is referred to as McDo locally, the McDonald’s PH official social media accounts have made reference to WcDo. As the campaign has no plans to roll out in Australia at the time of writing, there are no plans for a “Waccas” takeover of Mcdonald’s branches (locally known as Maccas).
On offer is the WcDonald’s Chicken McNugget meal with Fries and an exclusive Savory Chili WcNuggets sauce. It was available recently on the McDonald’s app in The Philippines as a teaser for the meal being rolled out to stores across the country later in the week. The meal comes in its own WcDonald’s branded packaging and the sauce is a combination of soy sauce, garlic and ginger with a hint of heat. This is in a similar vein to McDonald’s’ previously available collaboration with BTS.
In addition to an in-store item, McDonald’s is releasing a number of original shorts on their Youtube channel in a variety of anime genres. Animated by Studio Pierrot (Naruto, Bleach, Tokyo Ghoul etc), each short encapsulates in 30 seconds the key themes of each genre while fully integrating the McDonald’s (WcDonald’s) brand.
