Advertising Whopper

an example of advertising whopper. sandwich period not feature sesame seeds on bun.

one of original slogans of whopper advertised burger king there 1024 ways have whopper; claim based on exponential function of whether sandwich has ingredient or not, represented binary number of 0 or 1, raised power of number of possible ingredients @ time, ten, 2 =1,024. claim later expanded there 221,184 possible ways customer order whopper sandwich. other slogans include takes 2 hands handle whopper , burger king: home of whopper.

where s herb? advertising campaign sandwich 1985–1986 designed j. walter thompson. television commercials featured fictional character named herb, described nerd had never eaten burger king burger in life. called on fans visit local burger king in hope of finding herb , winning prize. campaign included m not herb promotion, in customers discounted whopper including phrase in order. @ first, people confused because did not know herb looked like. promotion poorly received both franchises , public, , failure prompted burger king drop jwt in 1987.

the whopper has been @ center of several hoaxes , pranks company. in 1998 april fool s day prank, burger king took out full page advertisement in several national publications such usa today advertising new version of sandwich called left-handed whopper . advertisement claimed condiments rotated 180° accommodate southpaws. prank 2013 claimed company introducing hands-free whopper holder allow people eat sandwich while doing other activities. unit, similar harmonica holder, supposed introduced in puerto rico celebrate company s 50th anniversary. later revealed joke. 2007 advertising campaign celebrating golden anniversary of whopper showed real customers in las vegas reacting false news whopper has been discontinued. while not permanently discontinued, ad claims discontinued 1 day. later versions of ads had customers receiving big mac or wendy s single , reactions sandwich. in-store ads, such posters , tray-liners, attack size , quality of big mac. campaign won 2009 effie award 1 of best restaurant advertising promotions 2007–2008.

crispin, porter + bogusky, burger king s advertising company of record 2003-2011, produced several notable ads whopper. in december 2008, burger king purchased rights advertising campaign centered on taste-test marketing campaign, dubbed whopper virgins . test claimed target participants unaware of existence of burger king or mcdonald s, , had never eaten hamburger. 3 remote areas of world—baan khun chang kiean, thailand; kulusuk, greenland; , budeşti, romania—were targeted. in test, virgins asked try both mcdonald s big mac , burger king whopper, , give preference, if any. according advertisements , accompanying mini-documentary, whopper popular sandwich among test subjects. social media based promotion crispin porter + bogusky in 2009 gave free whopper coupon every 10 friends on facebook user drop. advertising program dubbed whopper sacrifice , stopped after week when facebook canceled whopper sacrifice account violation of user privacy policy. despite fact burger king application downloaded 60,000 times , 200,000 people defriended. company s final advertising campaign company whopper lust commercial cross promotion directtv. promotion had image of whopper on channel 111, , every 5 minutes image remained on tv free whopper coupon sent subscriber. end of promotion, on 50,000 coupons distributed.

after parting ways crispin porter + bogusky in 2011, company hired firm of mcgarrybowen handle advertising. mcgarry bowen changed direction of advertisements centered on ingredients of products instead of humor. 1 of new advertisements produced them featured new california whopper, made guacamole, swiss cheese , bacon. new television spot had no words, images of ingredients sandwich being prepared , used assemble new sandwich accompanied pulsating soundtrack.

controversies

several of cp+b s advertising programs burger king, including ones whopper, drew criticism groups perceived cultural insensitivity or misogynistic themes within them. in may 2006, in american promotion of texas double whopper, burger king released campaign called manthem parodies helen reddy s woman . depicts man , girlfriend @ fancy restaurant. disappointed meager portions served, man bursts song, expressing desire texas double whopper, in place of deems chick food. walks out of restaurant, joined chorus of men rebel not eating texas double whoppers, go commando, lift minivan on side of overpass, , unfurl banner says eat meat. has been source of controversy, commercial has been described demeaning male vegetarians/vegans, misogynistic.

another problematic cp+b advertising program 2009 texican whopper featured commercial known little mexican . texican whopper lto version of whopper sold in europe , advertised ad featured pair of actors dressed cowboy , lucha libre wrestler. problem arose when mexican ambassador spain complained commercial featured demeaning stereotypes of mexicans. additionally, print version of advertisement featured wrestler wearing cape appeared mexican flag, violation of mexican laws governing usage of national banner. burger king pulled ad , issued apology mexican government. conversely, mexican newspaper excélsior issued parody of ad featuring american president barack obama cowboy , mexican president felipe calderon wrestler commentary on relationship between 2 countries.

in 2013, burger king introduced commercial in russia, in whopper shown crushing red poppies, , dialogue poppy. popular once, time has passed. russian word poppy mak (мак), homophone mac—a major nickname mcdonald s in russia. however, major russian broadcasters rejected ad due concerns on possible insinuation whopper better drugs, red poppies in same plant family source of heroin. company refused comment of veracity of networks claims, , instead posted advertisement on youtube channel, pulling service well.

on april 12, 2017, burger king released commercial entitled connected whopper, in store employee says while not explain whopper in 15 seconds, had discovered different way so, after states ok google, whopper burger? . dialogue designed trigger voice searches on android devices , google home smart speakers configured automatically respond phrase ok google . specific query caused device read out 43 word block of text wikipedia s article on whopper. prior ad s premiere, article had been edited users, including 1 named burger king corporation , google s automatically generated response query detailed description of whopper burger in promotional language. edits reverted violating wikipedia s policy against promotion. after text became target of vandals, google blacklisted advertisement s audio not trigger always-on voice detection. in turn, burger king modified commercial in order around block. wikipedia protected whopper article prevent promotional descriptions or vandalism being re-inserted. despite controversy, campaign won grand prix in direct category @ cannes lions festival (under title google home of whopper), beating fearless girl 1 vote.

tie-ins

the 2008 movie releases of indiana jones , kingdom of crystal skull saw promotional tie-in new indy whopper featuring bacon, spicy mayo, , pepper jack cheese , incredible hulk angry whopper. pair of european advertisements dark whopper, made pepper-jack cheese, black-pepper ketchup, , darkly delicious sauce , featured 2 product tie-ins both 2007 spider-man sequel spider-man 3 , 2008 batman sequel dark knight. iron man 2 linked burger king s whiplash whopper in 2010.