The Top 14 Fast Food Commercials That Totally Flopped

Fast food commercials are some of the funniest — and weirdest — commercials out there. Fast food ads are a booming industry, with restaurants spending a total of $5 billion on ad campaigns in 2019 alone (via Rudd Center). Fast food marketing is largely geared towards children and teens since more than one in every three kids consumes fast food each day in the United States.

Many fast food chains use mascots or quirky humor to not only appeal to youth but also make their food memorable and associated with laughs and good times. But just like a cringey stand-up comedy routine, sometimes you can try so hard to be funny, that it turns out to be not funny at all. Plus, humor relies heavily on the audience, and oftentimes it can just miss the mark. We've rounded up some of the best of the worst fast food commercials, including dancing creatures singing way off-key, the creepiest clown ads, and a mascot that actually inspired a crime in real life. 

Who is the Noid? A claymation mascot created in 1987 for Domino's Pizza, the Noid was a giggly, buck-toothed character wearing a rabbit costume that was out to ruin your pizza — unless you ordered from Domino's. Apparently, they were the only pizza company around that was "Noid-proof," as per Fast Company. The only way you can successfully "avoid the Noid" is by ordering from Domino's Pizza, according to the ad campaign. But where did he come from and why does he obsess over blocking all pizza delivery orders? This is perhaps a question that will never get an answer. 

Unfortunately, the Noid only took off because the wily mascot actually inspired a true crime. In 1989, a man with the last name Noid held two employees at a Domino's Pizza in Georgia hostage at gunpoint. Sadly, the human Noid was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and truly believed that the Noid campaign was created to single him out. The employees managed to escape, but Noid was placed in a mental institution and died by suicide shortly after. Understandably, the claymation Noid retired after the incident. 

Have you witnessed the first Ronald McDonald mascot from McDonald's? This guy is a bit awkward and might even creep out the 58% of the population that isn't already fearful of clowns. The earliest version of Ronald McDonald in the first ever McDonald's commercial featured Willard Scott wearing a tray full of a complete McDonald's meal as a hat — and one as a belt. And his clown nose was actually a small McDonald's cup. He is also donning a yellow and red striped clown suit, strange straw-like hair, and a huge, chilling red clown grin. 

In the commercial, when this vintage Ronald is talking to the kids in the audience, he says, "I know we're going to be friends too, 'cause I like to do everything boys and girls like to do." We're not quite sure what that means, nor do we want to know. He then smiles way too long at the camera, with his harrowing grin and squeaky clown horn. At least the recent Ronald mascot has evolved since this version — according to The Consumerist, the original Ronald McDonald clown "looks like a serial killer".

While some fast food commercials go for sex appeal or humor, this ad series is neither. This Carl's Jr. campaign was pretty simple: Each commercial featured an average guy eating a burger and fries. But it is so much more than that. The burger is messy, it's falling apart, sauces are dripping out, and the guy is really going for it. The only audio in the whole commercial is "Burgers, fries, and a coke. Don't bother me, I'm eating." And of course, the crunching, slurping, and chomping sounds of the man eating, along with the unflattering noises of him licking his fingers. It's obvious Carl's Jr. was trying to highlight how delicious their food is — however, not everyone enjoys watching people eat, especially with stomach-churning background noise.

This ad slogan did not have the big success that Carl's Jr. was hoping for, and instead, quickly turned into an internet meme. It was even spoofed in the 2006 film "Idiocracy" with the line, "Carl's Jr. F*** you! I'm eating" (via Reddit). The movie is a sci-fi comedy about a dystopian society run by corporations and full of people who have devolved intelligence due to technology. Not a good look for Carl's Jr. This may be why only one of the many commercials that were made are still available for viewing on YouTube — it seems like Carl's Jr. didn't want the ads available to the public to make memes out of.

This fast food ad campaign flopped not because it was gross or scary — it was just simply boring. In 1985, Burger King launched a whole ad series based on Herb, a "nerd" who didn't have any interesting or endearing qualities, besides the fact that he had never eaten a Whopper before. Burger King started with newspaper ads that read, "It's not too late, Herb," and, "What are you waiting for, Herb?" Then, they released a series of dull commercials with people who knew Herb, describing who he was, which was underwhelming to say the least. 

Burger King tried to liven things up with a special offer, allowing anyone who said "I'm not Herb" at checkout to get a burger for only 99 cents. It worked momentarily, with store sales increasing by 10% (via Mental Floss). The commercials were so bad that Burger King resorted to bribery to make their $40 million ad campaign investment worth it. In 1986, America finally got to meet Herb, first via television, then in real life. Anyone who spotted Herb in a Burger King restaurant and introduced themselves to him would get $5,000. Some local fast food joints added more, with reports of individuals receiving up to $10,000. Shortly after, Herb disappeared, and many people did not even notice. 

It's bad enough that we know that there is a Jack in the Box bobblehead man that exists out there in the world. But this commercial (one of the creepiest fast food ads of all time) brought to light that there are more — Jack has family members — "my favorite Philly cousins" as Jack affectionately refers to them. The ad shows Jack sitting down for dinner with his cousin Joey and little Joey Junior, both also sporting bobbleheads, with the addition of mullets and sports jerseys. Oddly, Joey's wife is a human with no abnormal head, although she also has a stylish blond mullet and stereotypical East coast accent to match her family.

This odd commercial was made to highlight Jack in the Box's release of the Sourdough Philly Cheesesteak Melts. Sure enough, near the end of the ad, Joey exclaims, "I'm bustin' your chops, the cheesesteak's good," after taking a bite of the sandwiches Jack brought over.

In 1987, Wendy's released a bizarre commercial with a succession of different people pulling a tiny piece of meat off of a giant hamburger with the jingle "Give a little nibble" playing in the background. In the ad, Wendy's asks you to taste the meat before you eat any hamburger, then follows the request with odd questions like, "Is it dry and chewy? Or hot and juicy?" We then witness more people sampling bits of burger, biking or driving up to a huge patty and grabbing a chunk off of it, before the commercial ends with a terrible closing catchphrase: "The more you nibble others, the more you'll love Wendy's."

Even the YouTube description of this commercial calls it a "flop," and it only aired for seven weeks. After that, it was discontinued and the ad agency that created it was fired, and Wendy's was once again on the hunt for a compelling commercial idea.

The McDonald's Mac tonight commercial is an obvious effort to appeal to adults who love piano and jazz music. It featured a cartoon moon wearing black Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and a black tuxedo playing the piano and singing on top of a large hamburger. The song that he sings is a rip-off of Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife," which kept the same music but changed the lyrics to "When the clock strikes, half past six babe, time to head for golden lights. It's a good time, for a great taste. Dinner at McDonald's: It's Mac Tonight!"

This commercial was actually popular with the masses, but not so much for the son of Bobby Darin, who ended up suing McDonald's for the blatant plagiarism, according to Orlando Sentinel. The ad was soon after taken off the air and now McDonald's Mac Tonight only remains alive through memorabilia collectors.

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