Jani Leinonen the man behind ‘Tony is back’.

It’s finally been revealed who was behind the tony is back hoax campaign, one Jani Leinonen. Mr. Leinonen is an artist from Finland who has no ties to the advertising industry but has been successfully using it as a platform for his work. Jani Leinonen posing with a decapitated Ronald McDonald.

Grown up problems for Tony the tiger.

The mysterious ads which you can see here, here and here have taken the internet by storm with #tonyisback trending on twitter. The ads and many of his other works take a stand against the big food corporations playing on their social responsibilities or lack of. The ads see the iconic Tony the tiger encouraging an off her game prostitute, an on the edge abuse victim and a police officer who is reluctant to take part in police brutality.

Major organisations were quick to distance themselves with the Jani Leinonen and this controversial campaign with Facebook and Twitter quickly disabling the accounts and Kellogg’s saying they will basically do anything to protect the integrity of their famous icon. Strangely enough the ads are still available on youtube despite their strict copyright laws.

Jani Leinonen doesn’t like fast food.

It wasn’t the first time Jani Leinonen took a swipe at the big food companies. He has targeted McDonald’s in the past by creating a sculpture on Ronald McDonald being crucified. Burger king got a dig when he place a pop up Hunger King restaurant in the middle of a busy shopping centre. Passers by were giving two menu options, a takeaway menu or a giveaway menu (which saw the food redistributed to those in need). He doesn’t only dislike global food brands, he seems to have it out for local Finnish food distributors. He placed porn on the packaging of food brands and vice versa! The Ronald McDonald Sculpture. Jani Leinonen has a track record for hopping on brands and creating hoax campaigns that negatively affect the brand in question. Is this a good way to draw attention to big organisations social responsibilities? We genuinely think it is. Jani Leinonen creates some dark and often pretty crazy pieces. Coming from an advertising point of view the Tony the tiger hoax campaign highlights it’s social problems. Simple children’s problems like not enjoying breakfast may have been solved by eating Frosties, but more serious and often relatable problems aren’t solved by enjoying a bowl of sugary flakes.