Shocked – and highly entertained – reactions were the order of the day last weekend when a Banksy painting that had just sold for over £1 million at a Sotheby’s auction visibly ‘self-destructed’ by slipping into a shredder that had apparently been built into its frame years ago.

As the whole world played clips from the hall over and over again, memesters and agencies alike jumped in with their own tribute and parodies of the now-iconic moment… but one particular design got massive traction.

And as it so happens, that one design can be traced back to one Maltese creative.

Richard Agius, the creative director at Malta’s TBWA\ANG communications agency, decided to put his own spin on things.

Using the globally recognisable box of McDonald’s fries, Agius reinvented the Banksy painting to represent fries being cut.

And while most memes and ‘copycat’ images came out after the event on Monday, Agius made sure to beat the design influxes, rolling his image out on Sunday.

The disruptive idea certainly did the trick, being shared internationally by creative publications Adweek and Creativepool while even being picked up by the Washington Post’s blog.

Eventually, even McDonald’s Paris and Orleans shared the image on Twitter which was originally shared on Instagram before hitting other platforms.

“Banksy is the epitome of disruption, so it was fitting to honour his art this way as well as our own creative thinking on behalf of one of our brand partners,” Agius said. “Art and brands are part of culture, not just advertising, so this was a way to reflect that.”

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David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).