Originally published September 4, 2018

As the saying goes, you can’t be what you can’t see, but recently, a 21-year-old University of Houston student named Jevh Maravilla took that advice to heart in a somewhat unexpected way.

At his local McDonald’s, Maravilla and his friends looked around and realized that there weren’t any Asian faces in the photos. So when they noticed a blank wall, they knew exactly what they wanted to do: create a poster of themselves aping the cheesy, cheerful aesthetic of McDonald’s decor and find a way to hang it in the restaurant.

The group purchased an old McDonald’s shirt from a thrift store and created a badge to make Maravilla’s disguise as a “regional interior coordinator” look more legitimate for their photo shoot. They then enlisted friends to mount the poster as quickly as possible before anyone noticed.

“To this day, I can say that the poster has been up since,” Maravilla said in a video detailing the scheme. “And I really hope they never take it down. Remember, folks: all races deserve recognition. And I guess I did my part.”

i noticed there was a blank wall at mcdonald’s so i decided to make this fake poster of me and my friend. It’s now been 51 days since i hung it up. pic.twitter.com/5OTf5aR4vm

— JΞVH M (@Jevholution) September 3, 2018

Updated September 18, 2018

And his conviction paid off. The scheme caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres — who is well known for loving a good prank — the host had them Maravilla and his friend Christian Toledo on her show to walk her through their process. They shared that when corporate learned about the prank, they weren’t annoyed. In fact, when the poster had to be taken down for a planned renovation, it was put up for auction. The boys will also be featured in an upcoming marketing campaign — and each received a giant check for $25,000.

These kids put up a poster of themselves in a McDonald’s, and nobody noticed for months. But I noticed. https://t.co/WAscG3bF0b

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) September 17, 2018