Vandals ridicule McDonald’s new emoji-themed billboards

Global food-chain McDonalds may have bitten off more than it can chew, after one of its emoji-themed billboards in the UK was cleverly satirised by a vandal.

A photo of the chain’s vandalised billboard in Bristol was first shared Twitter on July 8 by user @Graingeri.

“Haha, sorry @McDonalds but you've been done!” the caption reads.

The billboards, which the Independent reports as first appearing across the UK in June, present a series of ideograms telling stories of various crises that end happily with a visit to McDonalds.

The vandalised billboard’s story has been amended to now conclude with an image of a vomiting face.

What some may read as a playful attempt to appeal to Generation Z, for whom emojis allegedly now serve as a preferred method of communication, has since been transformed into a sardonic comment on the chain’s food.

One Twitter user has expressed appreciation for the billboard’s new design.

“Brilliant and sadly true!” said user @CorinaKattAyala.

One of the billboard’s other designs, depicting a couple embark on an expensive trip shopping for women’s shoes, has been criticised by another Twitter user.

“Classic bit of horrifically sexist stereotyping, all via the wonder of emoji. Thanks, McDonald's!” said user @haylebopp.

Emojis, electronic pictographs which first originated in Japan, have since attained global ubiquity.

The first billboard’s transformation is just one example of practice of culture jamming, a method of parodying advertisements for the purpose of critical comment.

Today incidentally marks #WorldEmojiDay, touted by organisation Emojipedia as an opportunity to set “Twitter alive with more emojis than it has ever seen.”