Behind the scenes at a McDonald’s photo shoot

"Here’s the McDonald’s ad all the web guys think is genius."

Why does your food look different in the advertising than what’s in the store? It was one of thousands of questions we received as part of our radical transparency campaign for McDonald’s. Our answer: an open and honest 3.5-minute primer on McDonald’s food styling and retouching.

Within minutes of its release, the video went viral. To date, it’s earned more than 12 million views on YouTube, headlined countless national and international news stories, appeared on many of the advertising industry’s “best of 2012” lists, and birthed an iconic new image of transparency: