PETALING JAYA, June 3 — The highly coveted McDonald’s BTS Meal has proved that one man’s trash is also a K-pop fan’s treasure.
The menu item was released in Malaysia last Wednesday and since then, fans of BTS, known collectively as the Army, have been sharing videos of themselves carefully preserving the used packaging and keeping them as collector’s items.
Instagram star and artist Faizdickie decided to take this a step further by upcycling the paper bags, boxes, cups, and even the foil lids of the sauce containers into a unique piece of art.
The influencer, whose real name is Mohd Nasrul Faiz Abu Azal, wrote on Instagram about being a die-hard Army himself and how he was inspired to create something beautiful out of the used packaging.
“(This is) a tribute to one of the best K-pop groups in the world and my way of showing support (for) upcycling!” said the 33-year-old, who is best known for producing comedic skits on social media.
Faiz also shared a video of himself working on the mixed media on canvas piece, which he named Army of the Galaxy.
The artwork features splashes of purple and yellow paint as well as the official BTS logo, consisting of a pair of trapezoids.
Faiz initially intended to put his creation up for bidding but changed his mind after realising that many people are struggling financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the possibility of encountering legal issues.
Instead, he decided to host a giveaway for one lucky fan of the Dynamite singers to win the painting for free.
“Considering that now is a critical time financially for all of us, I feel like it’s not right to sell this painting.
“Plus, some of (my followers) have expressed worries from a legal perspective as well.
“So I don’t want to have headaches over this, I am going to give this painting to one of you guys, BTS Army, for free,” wrote Faiz.
He said that any BTS fan interested in winning the painting simply had to leave a comment and tell him why they would like to own it.
The post was met with much excitement from Malaysian Armys and Faiz received more than 1,000 comments from eager hopefuls in less than a day.
He eventually picked a woman named Nadeema Kamaruddin as the winner after resonating with her story about how she discovered her love for BTS through her young daughter.
“Her last statement, ‘Maybe my daughter can keep (the painting) later when I’m no longer around and eventually she can share this memory with her own daughter too’, made me think that the painting will be in good hands,” said Faiz.
He also thanked Malaysian Armys for participating in his giveaway and urged those who originally planned on bidding for the painting to donate the money to those in need instead.
