By Erin Chew
As a self-professed K-Pop fan, I will admit, I was star gazing when I got the opportunity to interview Amber Liu – who is part of the K-Pop girl band f(x). As an Asian American, I cannot begin to imagine the challenges she faced pursuing success in an extremely highly competitive and pressurized industry such as K-Pop.
After spending a number of years in South Korea, Liu is back stateside and is looking to be part of the change for more Asian/Asian American representation in Western media. More recently, McDonald’s featured Liu in a television ad with her best friend, YouTube star Mike Bow, to promote the addition of bacon to three of the chain’s classic menu items.
Wong Fu Productions produced the ad, and as Liu tells me it was a surreal feeling for her to work with both her best friend, as well as Wong Fu Productions and McDonald’s – two entities which were extremely nostalgic for her growing up Asian American.
In addition, if you check out the ad, you would notice and feel the awesomeness of seeing Asian/Asian Americans not only being represented in front of the camera but also behind the camera ( with Wong Fu developing the ad together with McDonald’s). On a more serious note though, it is mainstream projects like this, which contribute to the change needed in Western mainstream media, and removes the veil that being Asian/Asian American is to only be seen as a perpetual foreigner.
Now, to the ad. I was actually curious as to how this all came to be and how both herself and Bow became McDonald’s bacon ambassadors, and essentially be considered as true blue bacon lovers.
LIU: This amazing opportunity came from the celebrating of our love for all-things-bacon in a viral parody music video we produced last year. Who would have thought our mash up/ parody video would be spotted by McDonalds and that we would feature in their latest ad on bacon. I still cannot believe all of this happened because McDonalds is extremely nostalgic for me, and to work with something, which formed a huge part of my childhood, is like surreal. Mike is one of my best friends and it was great to be able to share this experience with him and to have the opportunity to work with Wong Fu. I am still thinking “what the hell” and am thankful and appreciative to be a part of this amazing project.
Despite the fact that this is literally a 30-second ad, a lot of work went into developing and producing it and I asked Liu what she had learned from being part of creating a television ad and whether she gained new skills working with Wong Fu Productions.
LIU: It was such an amazing experience to learn about commercials and the amount of work, which goes into developing something, which comes and goes in a flash on television. For me, I learned about the process of setting up the burgers and fries and the amount of times we had to bite into the burger and be aware of how we were biting into and not looking weird when doing so. In a way, it was a little self-conscious to have to be aware of how we bit into the burgers but at the same time, it was really the most important part of the commercial.
In addition, how about the dance off towards the end of the ad? I personally thought it was funky and such a cool addition which added depth and fun to the McDonalds ad. Liu and I discussed the process behind creating the steps for the dance off and how she coordinated this with Bow and the decisions they made in identifying which steps they would use in a matter of seconds.
LIU: To be honest with you, it was really just a lot of spontaneous decisions. Mike and I came in with like three repeated choreographed dance moves, but most of what you saw were moves we thought of on the spot there and then. We did decide that we wanted the dance moves to be extremely weird and random and something, which will get noticed and remembered. So yeah, we literally made it as spontaneous and outrageous as possible.
Finally, I asked Liu who ended up winning the dance off and which is better – bacon on or off the classic McDonalds menu items.
LIU: Well, if you watch our parody music video on bacon, you would know I am personally on the view that adding bacon to anything and everything tastes the best. When bacon is fried and you get those little dry bits and edges, it like OMG, literally things to die for. And as for the dance off in the commercial, well don’t tell Mike but I know that I was the winner of the dance!
For a limited time, you will be able to try the Bacon on Classics line-up at participating restaurants nationwide. To end, if you have not had the chance to see it, please check out the ad because it will not only make you laugh but it will make you realize how things taste better with bacon, or not. Moreover, let us continue to celebrate projects like this, albeit this is a television ad, but one which truly reflects the outcomes of the fight and struggle for better representation and visibility on Western mainstream media.
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