As far as I understand it, the purpose of advertising is to sell more products, not to frighten the customers. Unfortunately, Burger King's advertising department does not seem to have gotten this message. During the Super Bowl yesterday, Burger King unveiled a new, multi-million dollar ad featuring its skin-crawlingly creepy, plastic-headed mascot, the King. As though his mere presence was not enough, the commercial consisted of women dressed as the salad toppings on a hamburger - lettuce, onion, tomato, etc. - dancing around before being rather unceremoniously tossed into a pile which, coincidentally, managed to resemble a hamburger. The "tasty and eye popping" women/toppings are ogled by the king during and after the formation of the "burger."
Creepy, sexist and, no doubt, offensive to more than a few people, does Burger King really see an increase in sales after airing ads like this? I would prefer to see a commercial that showed the actual food product, not a strange Whopperette version of it.
You can view the whole ad, if you are so inclined, at Adjab.
[Image from Adjab]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-06-2006 @ 10:01AM
Chef B said...
That BK was the worst of all of them dued to that stupid looking bigheaded king.
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2-06-2006 @ 10:06AM
Tor said...
Bah Humbug!
I found it hilarious. *shrug*
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2-06-2006 @ 10:59AM
jmchez said...
I agree. First, I thought it was a lousy ad. Then, when the womn were piling themselves on top of each other while the "King" grinned with devilish delight, I thought that the ad had crossed the line into some bizarre sexual fetish territory. It's just weird.
Slate has an anlysis of the "King" ad campaign:
http://www.slate.com/id/2107697/
For the record, I think that Burger King food is better than McDonalds but Wendy's is the best.
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2-06-2006 @ 11:44AM
B said...
Didn't the "King" debut in a burger king ad by waking up next to a rather suprised looking guy?
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2-06-2006 @ 11:53AM
Chuckrok said...
The message I got from the commercial was sexy women in funky costumes make the whoppers at BK.
My alternative (i.e. *SIC*) interpretation was the whopper is made from parts of sexy women.
I'm headed to BK for lunch to test the first. Heaven help me if the second is true.
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2-06-2006 @ 1:12PM
Shirley said...
I find him very creepy, my kids find him creepy.........Did not see the superbowl ad.
Think those ad ppl need to really rethink their commercials. My 7 year old never wants to go to BK any more she says because the king guy is creepy.
So it is back to the cardboard tasteless food at McD's
(no Wendy's near here)
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2-21-2006 @ 3:44PM
icantbelievethis said...
you all need to calm down..first off it's not like the king is "new" go watch all the BK commercials from the 80's...guess who!!
second...it's just a clever parody..it's not a fetish..it was a nice little song and they come together to make a burger..how terrible of them!!..it's just supposed to be big flashy stuff like they used to do on stage..
believe it or not..that is what old shows with singers and dancers used to be like..they just threw in the king because he's their new trade mark..
this is an open forum..so you are all entitled to your opinion..and i see some of your points..but still...come on??! it's not really a bad commercial
and the king isn't THAT creepy
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2-25-2006 @ 9:38PM
Laura Higginbotham said...
I actually like the creepy king and think the sandwich components are hilarious. However, this new "cheesy" ad with the Jim Baker/Jimmy Swaggert is horrible and boring.
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3-17-2006 @ 3:31PM
Jak said...
The "King" character IS exceedingly creepy. But then, what ad campaign isn't, on some level? Nobody is FORCING anyone to eat the greasy garbage that passes for "fast food" anyhow. Whatever happened to bringing a bag lunch? [grinz]
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