Brands are trying to one-up the Art Basel banana

Last week, social media lost its mind when Maurizio Cattelan’s “masterpiece” of a banana taped to a wall sold for $120,000, and another artist ate it in the name of performance art. While some viewed it as a big joke, marketers saw engagement as brands from Popeyes to the Mets capitalized on the buzz by producing their own “works of art.”

As far as producing social content, this one is pretty simple. All brands need is their product, some duct tape and a wall…too bad there isn’t a Peloton one yet.

Below, here are ways brands, unwilling to play second banana to Cattelan, are jumping in on the meme:

Popeyes
Ad Age ranked the fast-feeder as the second top marketer of 2019 for its hype around its chicken sandwich. It’s latest promotion for the sandwich is its own take on the masterpiece. Popeyes is selling a chicken sandwich taped to a canvas at the San Paul Gallery at Art Basel. Like the original artist, Popeyes thinks it can get away with charging an exorbitant price. In this case, even more than the original viral piece.

Burger King
In a stunt from Buzzman, Burger King duct-taped a French fry to the wall, but is only selling it for one Euro. Ad Age Creativity Editor wrote about the stunt that mocks the Art Basel piece.

Perrier 

The beverage brand juxtaposes its "priceless" drink to the 120,000 banana. 

The Mets
The baseball team has reporters gather around a taped baseball in complete awe. 

Carrefour
In France, the grocery chain is running Instagram ads for its fruit tapped to a wall and going for a normal price.

Sweetgreen
The salad chain promoted its new location in Miami with a kale leaf taped to a wall.  

McDonald's

For its Puerto Rico market, McDonald's worked with TBWA to create a series of print advertisements with its take on the trend. The food chain decided to show the absence of food, as though someone had already grabbed the "art." 

Absolut
Responded to Popeyes on Twitter with this...

Bobbi Brown
Showed off its Crushed Lip Color and is selling it for the regular price of the lipstick: $29.

Native 
The deodorant brand mocks the piece with with its own banana deodorant. 

Tampa Police

Even Tampa's finest had their fun creating 'Sgt.Donut.' 

And where is the Duck Tape in all this? Here’s a perfect opportunity for its duct tape brand: a picture of the product with the caption “banana not included.”