“Joey doesn’t share food.” Neither do most people when it comes to fries. The Friends gag has become shorthand for snack possessiveness, and McDonald’s Taiwan has leaned right in. With its latest campaign, Kung Fries (watch below), the age-old skirmish over stolen fries gets the full martial arts treatment because sometimes, protecting your snack is a matter of honour.
“Everybody’s been there, you know, fighting with a sibling or friend over a single fry,” says Cindy Lin, CMO of McDonald’s Taiwan. “We tapped into that fan truth and brought it to life through classic kung fu elements that Taiwanese audiences love. Humour and creativity make the heartfelt desire to protect your fries instantly relatable.”
To sell the story, creative partner Leo Taiwan built a spoof martial arts saga complete with five defensive moves to fend off wandering hands. The choice wasn’t random: kung fu is a revered part of everyday life in Taiwan, taught in schools, performed at temples, and revitalised online by viral TikTok trends. Groups like the Emei Kung Fu Girls, for example, have managed to blend this ancient discipline with pop-culture energy for the Gen Z audiences.
Authenticity mattered. The team enlisted kung fu master Scott Hung, a legend of Taiwan’s fight choreography, to design the routines for this 3:16-second film. The results, Hold Your Horses, Soft as a Breeze, Strong as a Storm, Divine Finger Flick, Buddha’s Palm of Fries and, Now You See It, Now You Don’t, were brought to life in comedic shorts directed by Leo Wang and starring rising actress Man-Si Ho, who trained for over three months to sell the moves with utter conviction.
“I still remember the first time Leo shared the brief and the kung fu idea was instantly striking,” says Lin. “Kung fu has rarely been used for fun in our category. It’s iconic not just in Taiwan or the Chinese diaspora but globally. Pairing a famous cultural element with our most famous product just made sense.”
Trivia: Globally, fries are the most popular menu item at McDonald's.
From fries to cultural theatre
What makes Kung Fries more than just another limited-time promotion is its embrace of cultural theatre. It takes a slight but universal human tension—“don’t touch my fries”—and exaggerates it into a spectacle that feels both absurd and oddly true.
“We’re not just selling fries,” Lin reflects. “We’re creating a cultural moment that connects with young audiences and encourages participation. Long-form storytelling, when executed well, is effective—our main film is four minutes, but we also have trailers, shorts, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes footage to reach different audiences across platforms.”
The campaign was overseen by Jason Williams, head of creative excellence at Publicis Groupe APAC, whose team has also delivered other regionally lauded work: Malaysia’s supersized Fan Fries Meal, Korea’s Loconomy Burgers (made with real farmers), and the Philippines’ Night Classroom initiative for students.
Creative bravery
McDonald’s internally measures ethos as the creative bravery index. That’s tantamount to a market creating work that leans into bold, human storytelling that cuts through an overcrowded media space and is less about chasing shock value. That bravery, Leo Taiwan's creative partner Benjamin Tzang explains, comes alive in campaigns that feel democratic, playful, and just unexpected enough to make people stop scrolling. McDonald’s Taiwan churns out around 22 campaigns a year, but when the team goes long-form and cinematic, it’s not about flexing production muscle but putting real skin in the game to raise the creative bar.
“We try to keep the golden arches familiar, but never predictable. So, the brief for the creative team is always to find a big, enduring idea that can achieve surprising takes each year. Kung Fu, as an ancient form of martial arts, is enormously respected in Taiwanese heritage. We had to step out of the comfort zone while staying true to the brand personality,” says CMO Lin. “It had to be catchier and fun for the younger audience rather than sticking to traditional marketing approaches.”
Elaborating on this “cultural principle” within the business, Lin shares how it has driven some of McDonald’s most distinctive regional work: the recent work in Korea with the local farming community that celebrates national pride via the Local-nomy platform or the Philippines’ Ride Thru activation, which transformed pandemic-era motorcycle culture into a drive-through event. Each draws on a cultural insight fans already connect with, then exalts it with creativity.
That’s also the constant challenge for the creative agency. Leo serves McDonald’s in several APAC markets and avoiding “creative sameness” for one global brand is the biggest challenge or the opportunity – depends on how one views it. “Our job is to connect the dots between data, cultural shifts and customer insights, then push those ideas beyond the obvious,” says Tzang. And that on social media can amount to sharing the pen with audiences—letting them remix, meme and play with the brand in unpredictable ways that ultimately deepen engagement.
For Lin, bravery also means what she calls “shameless stealing.” “If a market sees a brilliant idea elsewhere, we encourage them to adopt it—so long as it resonates locally,” she says. “It’s not copying, it’s adapting. Make it culturally relevant, add local flavour, and it works.”
And Kung Fries has that crossover potential, Tzang argues. “In Taiwan, kung fu carries cultural weight, but the idea of playfully defending something you love travels anywhere,” he says. “And what people love here most is fries—the most sold and most loved item on the Taiwan menu.”
That love of fries is why authenticity mattered so much. Real kung fu artists choreographed the moves, with Master Hung overseeing fight sequences. Even Ho, the lead actress, trained intensively for three months.
So was there any AI magic involved? Not this time.
“AI can handle plenty of production parts, but audiences can tell if it’s genuine or AI-generated,” says Tzang. “For us, it was important to maintain the integrity of the ancient art form. That’s why we insisted on real performances—it’s about honouring the genre, not spoofing it.”
Humour and hard KPIs
For all its lightheartedness, the three-plus-minute film is, of course, tightly tethered to business goals. McDonald’s Taiwan set clear objectives: nudge customers to upsize from medium to large fries, lift the overall basket by pairing fries with core items like entry burgers, drive incremental sales through the seasonal Shaker Fries, and strengthen brand image scores—tracked monthly across favourability and QSR preference.
“Even with those hard goals, we didn’t want a product-focused film,” Lin explains. “Sales are the end goal, but our audience—mostly Gen Z—expects excitement. Engagement metrics matter: how much people engage with the film, share the tutorials, and play with the content.”
And when the brand runs 22 campaigns in a year, that’s no easy feat. Consumer fatigue looms large. “We use quarterly focus groups and social listening to ensure ideas feel fresh,” Lin notes. “Our long-standing creative platforms help us refresh annually without exhausting our audience.”
In addition to the main campaign film, Leo has released five instructional social videos, and every McDonald’s Taiwan meal now comes with a Kung Fries tutorial printed on tray mats. Customers are invited to share their own stories of fries being swiped, and their defensive tactics—for a chance to win a 999 (or 24-karat) golden fry.
“It just gets more and more theatrical,” Lin smiles.
And let's face it, Joey had the right idea all along—never share fries (or food).
