Which musician was featured in the original McDonald's “I'm Lovin' It” launch campaign?

Justin Timberlake was featured in the original McDonald's “I'm Lovin' It” launch campaign.

McDonald's launched the campaign in 2003 as a global branding effort, and Timberlake appeared in the associated advertising. The campaign connected the restaurant brand with contemporary music and used a memorable vocal hook to give the phrase a strong audio identity.

The campaign is sometimes confused with later McDonald's music partnerships. The company has worked with many performers and producers over the decades, but Timberlake is the artist most directly associated with the original launch-era advertising for “I'm Lovin' It.”

The campaign's significance was broader than a single commercial. McDonald's used the phrase across multiple media and markets, making it a long-running brand platform rather than a one-off product advertisement. That global consistency helped distinguish it from earlier slogans that were often tied to particular national campaigns.