<P> The earliest instances of McDonald's utilizing advertising for the burger were mainly print ads, and a TV ad in which Hoyt Axton sings "The Ballad of Big Mac" which aired in 1969 . </P> <P> The Two all - beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions--on a sesame seed bun concept for the jingle was created by Keith Reinhard, Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide, and his creative group at Needham Harper and Steers . Originally, the ingredients appeared as a one - word heading for a McDonald's ad developed for college newspapers . The words were then set to music created by Mark Vieha, who performed the original jingle . The first run of commercials ran only a year and a half, going off the air in 1976, but its popularity remained beyond its TV life . Subsequent to the jingle, McDonald's followed up with a promotion based on its customers spontaneously having a "Big Mac Attack". </P> <P> Many franchises in the United States ran promotions during the original campaign that awarded a free burger to customers who could recite the slogan within a specified time (usually two or three seconds). One example of its success was that the McDonald's operators in New York City ran out of Big Mac buns . McDonald's Australia emulated this promotion in the mid-1980s, and some Brazilian McDonald's around the same time (only offering a free glass of Coca - Cola instead), in the Portuguese - language version, which is "Dois hambúrgueres, alface, queijo, molho especial, cebola e picles num pão com gergelim". </P> <P> In 2003, McDonald's revived the phrase . In an English - language ad from McDonald's international "i'm lovin' it" campaign, a rapper rapidly spouts off the trademark in the background music . Also in 2003, American Greetings and Carlton Cards released a Christmas ornament of a Big Mac, on which the slogan was both printed and played aloud by pulling on a string . Roy Bergold, National Advertising Manager at McDonald's, has a big hand in championing the original campaign and helping to bring it back . </P>

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