The 2009 McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Jingle That's Forever Stuck In Customers' Heads

When your marketing budget is the size of McDonald's, there is plenty of opportunity for creative genius that drives customers into your restaurants and through your drive-thrus. One early win for the fast food chain, which today has over 40,000 locations around the world, was the inception of McDonald's mascots, like Grimace. Another big hit for Mickey D's came in 2009, concerning the square-shaped Filet-O-Fish. It seemed innocuous, just another ad, until it was unleashed on the public. It featured a wall-mounted fish toy that suddenly looked at a man eating the seafood sandwich and sang, "Give me back that Filet-O-Fish, give me that fiiiish." It turned out to be one of the major earworms of 2009 — and well beyond.

Created by agency Arnold Worldwide, the commercial for McDonald's Lent-season fish alternative became a viral sensation. The catchy ad inspired millions to view and re-view the clip online, providing a significant boost to the sandwich's sales. And if it seemed like everyone was spontaneously singing or humming it in 2009, you might be surprised to learn that people are still watching the commercial with fondness and humor. "This is still my favorite commercial of all time. I love this song," one YouTube commenter wrote in April 2026. "I'm currently working at McDonald's and every single time I make one of these, this commercial plays in my head. Makes the day suck a little less," another commenter shared in 2025.

In 2003, McDonald's released perhaps its most iconic and well-known jingle: "Ba da ba ba ba ... I'm lovin' it." It was sung by none other than pop superstar Justin Timberlake, and written in part by Franco Tortora, a German composer and producer. This jingle reinvigorated McDonald's in a huge way, improving sales globally by nearly $2 billion in the year immediately after its release. More than that, it became an instantly recognizable part of the chain's brand identity. For more than 20 continuous years, McDonald's has used the jingle, giving it refreshes as needed, including a version by Brian Cox.

But not everyone is as in love with the "I'm lovin' it" jingle as they are with the Filet-O-Fish song. A Redditor wrote they don't find the song very clever, "and the annoying whistling jingle gets on my nerves." Another user called the "ba da ba ba ba" refrain "grating," claiming they "refuse to eat" at McDonald's because of their intense dislike for the jingle. We're thinking the massively successful chain probably isn't sweating the criticism, though we do have to wonder whether McDonald's — which has seen some big changes in 2026 — plans to switch up its ad jingles anytime soon.