About

Fake Arby's Commercials are a subgenre of video meme in which either an AI voice or a traditional voice-over is dubbed on top of an existing commercial for the fast-food chain Arby's. In the majority of these memes, the fake Arby's commercial is used to make fun of the food served by the restaurant, with other instances being the company picking a fight with other fast-food companies.

Origin

One of the earliest examples of a dubbed over Fake Arby's Commercial comes from YouTuber Doug Mellard,^[1] who uploaded a video titled "Arby's New Ad Campaign" to YouTube on June 21st, 2018, in which he insulted the customer and the food, earning 5,000 views in five years (shown below). Doug would then go on to create many more variations of this throughout the years, helping to popularize the idea.

Spread

On January 26th, 2021, YouTuber TreDaDon^[2] had one of the first viral fake Arby's commercial dubs, with his voice being used over the ad for the new "Bourbon Bacon & Steak" sandwich that Arby's was coming out with. His subtle opening approach into the punchline of calling it "nasty" accumulated over 280,000 views in two years (shown below).

With AI voices becoming a more prominent phenomenon online during the early 2020s, fake Arby's commercials featuring an AI-replicated version of the advertisements' voice began to proliferate. The AI voice-over would still be played over footage of Arby's commercials, with an early prominent example being the one uploaded by YouTuber RockyTheAmazingInkling^[3] uploaded on March 12th, 2023, in which the AI voice states that Arby's has resorted to kidnapping children to get the parents into the restaurant to buy food and their kid back (shown below).