Hasta La Creative!

Turns out we weren’t the only ones that found McDonald’s newest Happy Meal mascot, “Happy,” just a tad on the frightening side.

Online marketplace DesignCrowd challenged its graphic design community to a Photoshop contest that would drop the much-maligned mascot into horror movie posters. 

While tapping into the obvious unease over this character (who’s been used internationally for a while but is just now appearing in the U.S.), DesignCrowd also used this chance to stump for its approach to crowdsourced creative:

“The public reaction hasn’t been positive to the new McDonald’s mascot, and the company would have spent big money on it,” DesignCrowd spokeswoman Josephine Sabin tells AdFreak. “Had they gone through a crowdsourcing marketplace, like DesignCrowd, McDonald’s would have received hundreds of original designs for a great price.”

The first place winner received $200, which should afford the winner something like 66 Happy Meals. 

Take a look below at some of the better entries, and DesignCrowd’s contest page for more. The winner is at the bottom of our gallery.

The winner: