Over the past few weeks, social media has been flooded with witty and intentionally “bad” ads — all part of the viral “graphic designer is on leave” trend. What started as a simple meme quickly evolved into a creative marketing phenomenon embraced by various brands and companies, especially across the Philippines.

Graphic Designers On Leave Trend / Photo: Yel Bejoc

A Trend Born from Humor and Relatability

It all began when several brands started posting ads that looked intentionally bad, doodle-style drawings that seemed to be drawn by a kindergarten student using MS Paint. Each post humorously claimed that their graphic designer was “on leave”, leaving the poor social media manager to do the work themselves, or that they seemingly had no one to make the graphics.

These types of posts were like a parody of the polished look of professional marketing visuals. The charm of the trend lies in its authenticity and humor — it’s self-aware, relatable, and instantly shareable.

A few standout examples we found:

McDonald’s Philippines — One of the earliest spotted brands to kick off the trend. They promoted their 1-pc Chicken McDo meal using a doodle-style drawing of the meal, paired with the caption “naka-VL designers namin :(” (“our designers are on leave”).


Cebu Pacific Air — shared its own playful version, complete with hand-drawn planes and text following the same theme.


Chowking — joined the fun by sketching its signature Chao Fan, captioned “naka-VL graphic designers namin :(.”


IL Corso by Filinvest Malls — joined the trend with a playful doodle-style post encouraging people to visit IL Corso and enjoy the seaside mall experience.


Canva — flexed its drawing tool to create its own ad, cleverly promoting a 1-day Canva Pro offer while joining the trend.


Lastly, we at AniToons+ also joined in the trend by creating our own "Designer/Artist on leave" post, featuring Yuna and Mocchi, the brand mascots in the pubmat since our designer is "on leave" (more like watching anime 😅)....following the paint-scribble design trend.



These intentionally messy designs stood out on social feeds dominated by sleek, corporate visuals. The result? Higher engagement rates, stronger audience reach, and a sense of community among creatives and brands who joined in. Many companies saw this as a clever opportunity to connect with audiences on a more human level, showing that even when “the creatives are on leave,” creativity never really stops.

As one meme put it, “Many creatives seem to be on vacation, leaving the social media manager to do the work themselves!” 😅

Whether or not the designers were truly on leave, the trend gave everyone a good laugh and proved that sometimes, a touch of imperfection and humor makes for the best kind of marketing.