nosh nook #78 - wednesday, july 1, 2009

critics cringe at ad for burger king's latest sandwich (link)
06.30.09 - fox news - by joshua rhett miller

over the past decade, burger king's really been vying for our attention by putting their all into creating some of the wildest & craziest fast food marketing campaigns around. a few years back, they launched the subservient chicken website, which totally went viral. they created a campaign on facebook that rewarded people with a whopper if they removed ten friends from their friend list. late last year, they released a body spray that smelled like meat. now, as part of a limited time promotion in singapore for the "bk super seven incher," they've released an ad that's topped them all in terms of its shock value.

...& if you're fox news, burger king has gone too far. the ad "shows the 'mind-blowing' sandwich near the open mouth of a wide-eyed, red-lipsticked woman accompanied by the suggestive tagline: 'it'll blow your mind away.'" as always, when fox news thinks that somebody's gone too far, they've launched what's obviously a "fair & balanced" investigation into the matter & gone to "advertising experts" to get their "fair & balanced" opinions. who are these advertising experts? blogger & ad copywriter mark duffy, scott purvis of the marketing & advertising firm gallup & robinson and mark crispin miller, an nyu professor of media studies. they were all totally shocked & appalled.

their complaints? duffy said it's "among the "worst" he's ever seen in more than 17 years" and noted that since the woman's face in the ad & the sandwich appear retouched, "they obviously didn’t hire a top-notch food photographer." purvis felt that it went too far & is "the kind of ad you might see for a smaller brand trying to get itself noticed." mark crispin miller was quoted as saying that "this is objectionable because it's outrageously exaggerating the pleasure of burger king. it's not that good, even as food, and therefore nowhere near as gratifying as an orgasm. there's no doubt they intended a double entrendre (sp)."  really? burger king's not as good as an orgasm? there's no doubt that they intended a double entendre? i can see why he's a professor...the dude's obviously a genius.

i'm not saying that objectifying women in a fast food ad is a good thing, but it isn't really any different than many other ads out there.  it's just being more blatant in its sexual connotations. plus, as a burger king spokeswoman said in the article, "this print ad is running to support a limited time promotion in the singapore market and is not running in the u.s. or any other markets. the campaign is supported by the franchisee in singapore." it's a limited time promotion in singapore, people. get over it.  that is, unless fox news has already got you all riled up about it, in which case you should probably turn off fox news, get off your couch, scribble up a sign & go to your local burger king to demand that they pull the ad...& since it's not running anywhere in the u.s., a swift victory will be yours.