Can I Get Uhhhhhhhhhhhh: McDonald’s made indecision the Super Bowl ad

In February 2022, McDonald’s built a Super Bowl campaign around the sound customers make when their order disappears from their mind. Children, celebrities, a goldfish and even Grimace stared at the menu and produced the same long “uhhhhh.” Wieden+Kennedy New York created Can I Get Uhhhhhhhhhhhh around a moment that happened daily at counters and drive-through speakers.

The campaign did not need to show people enjoying their order. It stopped one second before they chose it.

The Pause Everyone Recognised

The question sounded simple.

“May I take your order?”

However, the answer could become unexpectedly difficult once someone reached the counter. A person might have decided before arriving, then see the menu and reconsider everything.

Big Mac or McChicken. Nuggets or fries. A familiar order or something different.

That pause became the campaign.

The phrase “Can I get uhhhh” had already become familiar through everyday speech and online jokes. McDonald’s brought it back to the place where it made the most sense.

The hesitation also said something useful about the menu. People were not struggling because there was nothing they wanted. They were struggling because several options felt possible.

McDonald’s turned that small problem into its product message.

Everyone Forgot Their Order

The film moved through a series of customers caught in the same moment.

A woman stared at the drive-through menu. Children froze at the counter. NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace hesitated. Football streamer Edwin Castro struggled to choose. Grimace joined them, voiced by Ryan Reynolds.

Then Ye arrived in a black all-terrain vehicle, opened its unusual door and began the same unfinished sentence.

“Can I get uhhhhhhhhhhhh?”

The celebrity appearances added surprise without changing the idea. Famous customers had exactly the same problem as everyone else.

Eventually, one woman committed to Chicken McNuggets. Her relief lasted only until the employee asked which sauce she wanted. The pause began again.

That ending completed the joke. Ordering was not one decision. Every choice could reveal another choice waiting behind it.

Director Kitao Sakurai kept the performances close to real hesitation. Eyes moved around the menu. Mouths stayed open. The repeated sound stretched until it became the film’s rhythm.

The Hesitation Left the Screen

McDonald’s introduced the idea beyond the television spot.

Outdoor boards in Los Angeles and New York carried little more than the extended “uhhhhhhhhh.” Times Square screens gave the unfinished order a much larger stage.

Near SoFi Stadium, where Super Bowl LVI was held, skywriting placed the phrase above Los Angeles. The message appeared without a burger photograph or full explanation.

That simplicity created curiosity before the film arrived. People who saw the outdoor work could recognise the sound of someone trying to order, even before McDonald’s completed the connection.

The brand also teased the campaign through social posts. A drive-through image showed the enormous wheels of Ye’s vehicle, while the copy promised that something was coming on Super Bowl Sunday.

The rollout used the same behaviour in different forms. The film showed the pause. The billboards wrote it. The skywriting stretched it across the city.

The Craft

Can I Get Uhhhhhhhhhhhh found its idea inside a sound that restaurants usually wanted customers to avoid.

A long hesitation could slow the queue and test the patience of the person waiting behind. However, it was also evidence that people understood the menu well enough to debate their options.

The film kept returning to that one sound until it belonged to everyone. Age, fame and even species made no difference once the menu appeared.

More importantly, McDonald’s remained necessary to the joke. The idea could not be separated from ordering food, reading the menu and choosing a sauce.

The campaign arrived during an advertising event filled with celebrities and large productions. It had both. Still, its most memorable part was one unfinished sentence.

McDonald’s asked what people wanted.

Everyone needed another second.

Credits

Can I Get Uhhhhhhhhhhhh (2022) — McDonald’s, United States. Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York. Director: Kitao Sakurai. Production: PRETTYBIRD. Media: OMD West. Talent: Ye, Bubba Wallace and Edwin Castro. Grimace voice: Ryan Reynolds. Super Bowl LVI campaign with film, social media, billboards, Times Square screens and skywriting in Los Angeles.