The solution
Everyone knows the feeling: you look away for a moment and your fries are gone. McDonald's Taiwan's insight was that Taiwanese politeness makes it awkward to refuse — so Gen Z needed a playful, face-saving defence system rather than a lecture.
Working with Leo Taiwan and Golden Horse-winning action choreographer Scott Hung, the brand invented 'Kung Fries' (功夫薯條): five named defensive moves drawing on kung fu, wing chun, tai chi and jeet kune do, performed by dancer-turned-fighter Man-Si Ho in a three-minute, cinema-style comedy directed by Leo Wang.
The launch mimicked a blockbuster: OOH teasers, a trailer screened in cinemas, movie posters, restaurants turned into training dojos with tray-mat 'martial arts manuals', social tutorial videos, and a contest for stolen-fry stories with a 24-karat golden fry as the prize.
Fries sales rose 36% versus the previous four weeks, over 6,600 people shared stolen-fry stories, and videos passed 8 million views. At Spikes Asia 2026 the campaign won the Integrated Grand Prix and helped McDonald's become APAC Advertiser of the Year.
What it achieved
Give Gen Z a polite way to defend their fries
Why it worked
It solved a universal, low-stakes annoyance instead of selling a product feature.
Authentic craft — a real Golden Horse choreographer — made the joke credible.
Named moves and dojo activations gave people something to learn and share.
A movie-release media plan made a food campaign feel like a cultural event.
What can be applied
A small, universal annoyance can carry a campaign when you build a system: named moves, dojo activations, and a golden-fry prize turned a joke into an extensible cultural property.
Aftermath
After the September 2025 launch, Kung Fries kept compounding: the film and tutorials spread on YouTube, Instagram and Reels, and at the March 2026 Spikes Asia gala it won the Integrated Grand Prix, helping McDonald's take APAC Advertiser of the Year, Leo Taiwan the Taiwan Agency of the Year, and Starcom the Media Network of the Year.
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