We all like to be reminded of how smart we are, especially when all that’s required is eating a cheap meal. McDonald’s recognizes that finding a deal can add to a meal’s pleasure, and it’s laying on the flattery to promote its “humbly priced” McFirst menu.

In a new spot from agency BETC Paris, a teenage girl is taken from a McDonald’s, with her McFirst meal, to a hydroelectric plant in crisis where she’s asked to solve the rather urgent problem of a bursting dam. Why her? She must be clever if she got a meal for €4.95. She nervously crunches a fry.

Helmi, who has directed music videos for French DJ Brodinsky and Montreal’s Tiga, shot the ad. Discerning music fans may notice that the actor, Laia Manzanares, has also experienced recent fame in that genre as the star of Tame Impala’s video for “The Less I Know the Better.”

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Credits

Advertiser: McDonald’s
Client management: XavierRoyaux, Camille Lopeo, Sarra Fetni
Agency: BETC Paris
Agency management: Henri Tripard,Julien Grimaldi, Juliette Aguglion
CD: Olivier Apers
AD: Sophian Bouadjera
Assistant AD: Romain Ducos
CW: Lucas Bouneou
Traffic Stéphanie Renoir-Mousli
TV Producers: David Green, Caroline Bouillet
Production House: Insurrection
Sound Production: LGM
Director: Helmi