Watch Taco Bell’s Orwellian new breakfast ad

By Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor

Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuap4wIGSLg

Taco Bell is supporting the upcoming launch of its Biscuit Taco with a dystopian ad campaign from the firm Deutsch suggesting rival McDonald’s Egg McMuffins are boring.

Titled Routine Republic, the “short film” lasts over two minutes and follows a man and a woman escaping from a Hunger Games-esque setting in search of a better breakfast.

“It’s another perfect morning in the Routine Republic, where happiness is eating the same breakfast,” the ad’s narrator says. “But that’s obviously not the case. There’s an army of clowns who resemble evil Ronald McDonalds, while the citizens of the world look tired and hungry from eating tasteless breakfast sandwiches day in and day out.

The ad comes a year after Taco Bell’s initial foray into breakfast, a market it hopes to grow substantially over the next few years. In an interview with USA Today, CEO Brian Niccol said he hopes to make early morning sales account for 20% of the chain’s business. It’s now at about 6%.

Taco Bell attacked McDonald’s in a separate ad campaign last year, featuring men named Ronald McDonald who said they preferred a Taco Bell breakfast to the Egg McMuffin.

Taco Bell, which is owned by Yum! Brands, saw same-restaurant sales increase 6% during the fourth quarter with help from its breakfast offerings. Analysts had expected just a 3.6% boost.