McDonald’s ‘World Menu Heist’ ad uncannily mirrors Louvre heist events

The internet is flooded with equal parts speculation and satire about the recent 9.30 AM Louvre heist. And McDonald’s marketing team? They seem to have noticed… Or did they?

The most famous museum in France, and perhaps even the world, was a victim of daylight robbery that resulted in the theft of eight priceless pieces of jewels. Something very similar seems to have also transpired in the new McDonald’s World Menu Heist ad campaign with McDonald’s eight most coveted international menu items.

McDonald’s UK and Leo UK, an English creative agency, have created a nationwide integrated ad campaign announcing the arrival of McDonald’s eight global favourites in the UK for the first time.

Beginning with a robbery, the ad depicts a number of masked robbers getting their hands on the Black Pepper and Garlic Chicken McNuggets, an offering native to McDonald’s Japan, as evidenced by the writing on the box. 

The next heist in the same ad results in the same set of thieves not only stealing cases of Sour Cream & Black Pepper McShaker Fries but also dropping one case while on the run, a surprising coincidence considering during the Louvre heist the thieves fled on motorbikes, dropping one piece, the broken Crown of Empress Eugénie, outside the museum.

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A Middle Eastern McDonald’s is hit by the robbers next for their Mac & Cheese Triangles, followed by a high-profile theft of a possibly Canadian Maple BBQ and Bacon Double Quarter Pounder. A McFlurry ice-cream dispensing machine is also getting towed behind a jet ski somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, close to a McDonald’s where the machine perhaps worked for a change.

Lastly, the commercial ends with the thieves being disappointed over scoring a case of Pineapple McSpicy, an Australian offering. Apparently, nobody likes pineapple in their food. 

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“World Menu Heist is the most wanted McDonald's Menu items heisted from around the world. Get them before we have to give them back!” reads their official website. 

Despite the uncanny similarities between McDonald’s World Menu Heist and the real-world Louvre heist, the campaign's timeline confirms the connection is merely a striking, if slightly grim, coincidence. 

McDonald's began its secretive recruitment of fans via an Instagram Close Friends list on October 1st, with the initial "CCTV-style" footage appearing on October 17th and a major tasting event taking place on October 18th, all before the actual Louvre robbery occurred on October 19th, 2025.

The company's subsequent reveal on October 22nd merely amplified an existing creative theme that had, by sheer chance, been mirrored by a real-world crime.

In a cross-agency effort, according to multiple international publications, Leo UK led the creative direction; OMD managed all media planning and buying; Red Consultancy oversaw public relations, event execution, and influencer outreach; TMW handled Customer Relationship Management (CRM); and Linney managed all Point-of-Purchase (POP) communications.

​Andrew Long, executive creative director at Leo UK, said, “A successful heist requires meticulous planning and perfect execution... this one has both. Fans have been wanting to steal the global menu for years, and we finally gave them the tools to pull it off. ‘World Menu Heist’ is Ocean’s Eleven meets McDonald’s, the tastiest heist of the century.”

Ben Fox, chief marketing officer at McDonald’s UK and Ireland, said, “Every great heist has a motive, and ours was simple – give people what they’ve been asking for. ‘World Menu Heist’ snatches eight favourites from around the world and enables fans from the UK and Ireland to try them without having to board a plane! There’s something for everyone, and it’s the kind of caper only McDonald’s could pull off.”