DISQUS

The Moderate Voice: Burger King’s New Ad: A New Low In Vulgar Ads Aimed At Young Customers

  • GreenDreams · 5 months ago
    Hey, any guys out there want to blow the seven incher? Even from a marketing standpoint, it's insane. If the ad catches on, or even evokes snickers and jokes among teenagers, which it's bound to, no teenage boy would be caught dead ordering one. Way to go, morons.
  • fiveeight · 5 months ago
    hi
  • D. E.Rodriguez · 5 months ago
    Could this be a case of "Honni soit qui mal y pense"?

    Don't know. Only you can be the judge
  • The Pajama Pundit · 5 months ago
    When I first saw the ad, I thought it was a joke made with Photoshop...

    Also, I must say...
    I can’t help but imagine a fellow in a backward ball cap and cargo shorts, his pockets full of roofies, writing this copy for the oblong sandwich.
    ...is somewhat offensive to me as I constantly wear cargo shorts and sometimes don my baseball cap backwards. I am proud to say, however, that I have never even seen a roofie.

    PS: what's worse/ironic is that of the two fast-food burger joints (BK and McD), I prefer Burger King.
  • shannonlee · 5 months ago
    We are such a pathetic country of prudes. Oh no, Boobies!!!! RUN!
  • The Pajama Pundit · 5 months ago
    Boobies? Where?!

    shannonlee, while I will concede that there are those who are overly offended by the seemingly inane, this instance is different.

    For me, it's not about this ad being offensive or vulgar -- after all, the Burger King corporation (and it's parent, affiliate and subsidiary companies) are free to market however they see fit. I would argue however, that this is a HORRIBLE way to market what usually aspires to be a family-friendly restaurant (why else, as Joe aptly points out, would they have PLAYGROUNDS at many of their locations?).

    It's bad marketing. Period.

    On the flip side, my kids will still want to play at their playgrounds and eat their value meals no matter what advertising is out there...
  • angelmorales · 5 months ago
    Well, from someone in the kids marketing world, this is a "tough one to swallow". It creates buzz, it is all over the web, and social media feeds on this sort of thing - so if that was CPB's goal for their client, then job well done. However, timing here is horrible. The Transformer toys are hitting the stores as we speak - and they are to be a hit with kids. Traffic of kids and families is heavy to say the least due to the release of the movie. I would hate to be a parent walking in with my kids to BK and having to explain what is the meaning of all the jokes teenagers and young adults are cracking at the campaign.
  • Rambie · 5 months ago
    It's not the ad, it's just your dirty mind. /snark

    I agree, I too thought the ad was a fake photo-shop job done by a 14 year old. Of course, the TV spot with the King in the bed with the other guy few years ago also didn't make me want to run to the local BK.
  • TT · 5 months ago
    Prudish? You must be joking. Advertising like this, aimed at kids, is simply crude.
  • shannonlee · 5 months ago
    It's hardly bad marketing. If anything, it is creating a buzz. Nothing like getting free marketing from the far right. If this ad were to run in Europe, no one would give it a second thought.
  • DLS · 5 months ago
    There's nothing prudish about being offended about this, or rolling eyes upward at the stupidity of it. (Yes, a backward baseball cap and cargo shorts, and of course the loser's shirt would _never_ be tucked in.)

    All they neglected was the older, simpler statement that would achieve the same effect.

    "Size Matters."
  • roro80 · 5 months ago
    Dangit, GreenDreams, you got to it before me! "Put our giant 7" meat feast in your mouth hole" sounds like the tag line to a cheap gay porn flick. I mean, in my neighborhood, it would go over well, but they'd have to change the gender of the person in the ad.
  • shannonlee · 5 months ago
    I'm not saying the ad is brilliant. I am just saying that getting upset about its vulgarity is silly. What is even worse is worrying about how it will hurt children.

    Sex and the human body is not demonized in Europe and they can still manage to raise well-adjusted children...that are healthier and better educated I might add.

    I am surprised we aren't crying about the Jack in the Box ads aimed at stoners.
    "They're trying to tell kids that getting high is cool!!!"

    Or what about the Carls Jrn ads with the hot woman riding a mechanical bull while eating a hamburger?

    "Where's the beef" on that?
  • pacatrue · 5 months ago
    Yeah, I agree this is over the top. It's not actually that it's a sex joke, but isn't the idea of cramming a woman's shocked mouth with lots of meat kind of... demeaning (not quite the word I'm looking for, but it's a start)?

    It matters a lot to me who makes these jokes. If this was a funny video from collegehumor.com, I wouldn't have an issue at all. This is how they make their living, over the top sex jokes. Frequently funny. But when a major corporation makes it their slogan.... It's like the difference between talking about oral sex with your friend versus with your dad. Thank you soooo much, dad, for never making blow job jokes.
  • D. E.Rodriguez · 5 months ago
    Thanks for translating this for others, Rambie

    "Honni soit qui mal y pense" = it's just your dirty mind. /snark


    Dorian
  • smithfwe · 5 months ago
    lolwut
  • ordinarysparrow · 5 months ago
    Perhaps Burger King is going after the Calvin Klein kids?

    http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=7854000...

    Calvin Klein billboard in Soho

    When you thought it could not get worst. . .
  • fiveeight · 5 months ago
    Cry about it.
  • worryaboutsomethingimportant · 5 months ago
    Crispin Porter + Bogusky didn't even make that ad. Just ask Alex (@bogusky) himself...

    bogusky: The @Gawker gets it wrong. Next time take 30 seconds to check the facts before posting. Not our ad. http://gawker.com/5301856

    To me, lazy journalism is infinitely more offensive than a tee-hee advertisement.
  • GreenDreams · 5 months ago
    Oh, it's meant for Singapore. Then that must be alright, huh? Perhaps BK will realize that the world is, well, global. Dumb ads, wherever they run, will be noticed.

    And hey, who's "worried" or "upset" about this? Anyone? I think it's hilarious and in case this is news to you, not everything in the blogosphere is about the most relevant issues.

    BK can now join some of the textbook marketing blunders, like:

    Chevy's marketing in Mexico of the Nova (ahem, means no go in spanish)
    Toyota's snickerable marketing of the MR2 in France (em ehr deux sounds like merde in French)
    Coke's poor translation of "Coke adds life" to "brings your ancestors back from the dead" in Chinese.
  • big_mike · 5 months ago
    It's the verbiage that makes it so unnecessarily suggestive.
    The shape means nothing: Do you think what you're thinking the ad's suggesting when you have a hot dog, orgasmically slavered with mayonnaise and mustard and ketchup?
    Do you worry about your kids' minds when you serve them sausage links?
    Does it become an ethnic sterotype when you eat a Polish sausage?
    It's the copy, and it was unnecessary.:
  • rsanford · 5 months ago
    Is it any wonder why the Islamic world thinks we're the "Great Satan"?
  • AnonymousAnon · 5 months ago
    I would like to place my phallus inside of that young lady's gaping mouth.
  • 1cherylcocos1 · 4 months ago
    Burger King is disgusting and completely disregards the average buyer with their low-class vulgar ads. The current ad with "small hands" and the guy asking "Can I hold it for you" -- that's a new low, even for Burger King.