Lacey Gibson
April 7, 2011
Com 400
Dr. Waters
Burger King, Rated R
Background:
Burge King is a large chain of fast food restaurants based out of Miami, Dade
county Florida. The now large company began in 1953 as insta- Burge King. After
changing hands several times due to financial difficulties the company was finally
renamed Burger king. They now have over 12,200 different locations and sixty six
percent are privately owned and operated. It is the second largest hamburger chain in the
world, making over $2 billion in annual revenue. But they did not get to such a high
status by simply selling burgers. Burger king has been known for their effective
advertising for quite some time, but are they ethically sound?
Advertising Background:
In recent years Burger king has had a string of very successful advertising
campaigns. In recent years many of these campaigns have included the famous Burger
King mascot as well as a variety of catch phrases such as “ have it your way” and it takes
two hands to hold a whopper. But not all these endeavors have been successful, in the late
1980’s a promotion entitled Where’s Herb? Launched and was highly unsuccessful. The
campaign was centered on a fictional character named Herb who supposedly had never
enjoyed a Burger King Burger. The advertising team implemented a catch phrase that
customers could use at the counter to receive a discount on their order, but after the
image of the fictional character was released, consumers lost interest. However, Burger
Kings next promotional venture was a goldmine when they ventured into the field of
product tie in with George Lucas’ 1977 movie star wars. This trend continued and was at
its peak between 1990 and 2000 with the release of character cups and related items for
Disney’s animated films including Beauty and the Beast as well as Toy story, not to
mention one of its biggest money makers, the Pokémon franchise in 1999. Companies
continue to use this advertising strategy as a blueprint in most fast food chains. However,
since the height of Burger king’s product tie in strategy, the company has hired and fired
over five different PR firms.
After taking over the job of advertising gurus, the Miami based Crispin Porter and
Bogusky swiftly decided that it was very important for the company to return to its roots
and reinstate the “have it your way slogan.” They did a from ground up revamping of the
companies marketing strategy. They re-designed the logo, the cups, bags and stores and
finally flooded the print, TV and Internet markets with advertisements featuring the
Burger King. They were highly successful, however in 2009 there was much controversy
over a “ Texican burger” advertisement and the company was later replaced by the
current Pitch, inc. The “ Texican burger” however, would not be the last of Burger Kings
controversial advertisements.
The case of the seven-inch sub:
The most recent of the Burger king advertisements have been crude to say the
least. A writer named Cajun boy said “ the kings “edgy” ads have reached a new low”.
Which some consider a bit of an understatement. The most recent ad features the profile
of a woman with her mouth open and a long, seven-inch sandwich in the other side of the
frame. It is all summed up with a caption that reads, “It’ll blow your mind away”. The
point of the ad is clear, and there is unfortunately no possible way to misinterpret the goal
of the advertisers. This ad oozes sex and offers no apologies for it. Cajun boy continues, “
The slogan, ‘It’ll blow your mind away’ is as subtle as a sledge hammer, and the fine
print is filled with heavy breathing. We have always looked to companies such as
Abercrombie and Fitch and axe to sex up their ads, but this is food and it is quite frankly
disgusting. But he was not the only one, here are some comments from some other
sources are provided below:
The "most overtly blow-jobby ad I've ever seen," and he keeps track of these
things, offering three other runners-up to the top honor (this apart from the
Quiznos ad with the oven urging a dreamy-looking guy to "make a toasty
Torpedo" and "Put it in me, Scott.") “The only thing this ad is missing, adds
Cajun Boy, "is the disclaimer that you'll actually get fewer blow-jobs if you eat
these sandwiches.” – NewserWhat the heck is BK thinking??? What heterosexual male would even consider
eating one of these after seeing this ad? And it's a bloody shame, really, because it
looks like it could be a pretty decent sandwich otherwise – Digg.comIf it hasn't already happened, today can go down in the record books as the day
subtlety died. Burger King's latest advertisement ,for its, ahem, BK Super Seven
Incher ,leaves little to imagination or interpretation. As you can see here, the
woman in said advertisement is about to go down on said Super Seven Incher
with a suggestive tagline that uses the word "blow."- popwatch.ew.com-
"Something long, juicy"? "Yearn for more"? "Mind-blowing"? I think it's all
rather glorious, in an I-love-trash kind of way. Who ever cared about cunning,
cleverness, and nuance anyway? - current.comIs it the fact that there is a shameless use of adult only innuendos on one of Americas
most loved fast food chains that has everyone in an uproar? Absolutely! All fingers are
being pointed at Burger King and their advertising teams complete lack of respect. Shock
value and vulgarity should not be a way of advertising. Most people would agree that sex
sells and that if done in good taste it is acceptable. However the graphic nature and use of
suggestive language has gone too far, Burger King needs to strongly re-examine their
ethical principals in advertising.
Ethical principals:
Generally speaking it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that most
suggestive advertising is central idea is to focus your attention elsewhere and not engadge
the brain in actually thinking about the product. They don’t like to admit it but when
these types of advertisements are made they are appealing to a more adolescent side of
the brain. A study from UNC stated that “The most significant findings of our
experiment fit well into our proposed theoretical frameworks. Ads featuring female
models were viewed significantly more favorably than the ads that featured male
models”. The Burger King ad clearly follows this pattern. However it has been proven
by the same company that “ads featuring no model/non-sexual content were found to
provoke a more favorable attitude towards brand”
In Glaster’s two-dimensional semantics, “there are two intensions associated with
meaning. The primary intension can be used to capture the psychological component
that many traditional theorists believe is essential to meaning. The secondary
intension accommodates the wide, or external, content of our terms.
Although the ad certainly does capture a psychological component but it in no way essential
to its meaning. From the get go you understand some basic principals because of the ad. The
sandwich is of a large size, and it is mean to be advertised as something that taste good.
However psychologically it misses the point, it does not take your mind to a place of a
delicious meal but one of a much more adult’s only natures. Second, although the terms used
in the ad can be interpreted in a couple of ways they are not extremely wide or external. The
message is blatant, not clever and crude. These two items combined make the ad unethical
according to Glaster’s two-dimensional semantics.
Suggestions:
After careful consideration about Burger Kings previous and current marketing
strategies I have come to the conclusion that they have taken a turn for the worst. I would
be in the best interest of the company to alter their marketing strategy to a more family
friendly field. The company was at its best with it’s product tie in marketing. People are
more likely to invest in a product for their children and especially if it is a collector’s
item, the family will eat at the restaurant in order to obtain the product. Overly sexualized
or explicit ads wont make a mother want to feed her children that food. Even more so,
especially with this specific ad, no heterosexual male will look at this and crave the
sandwich. Overall, it alienates the majority of the people who will see it thus It is highly
ineffective. Burger king needs to get back to family values and family advertisements,
and leave the risqué ads to the fashion magazines.
Works Cited
www.current.com, April 10, 2011
www.Digg.com, April 10, 2011
Glaster , Two Dimensional analysis of ethical language, April 10, 2011
http://www.unc.edu/~antoniab/researchreport.htm
http://www.newser.com/, April 10, 2011
www.popwatch.ew.com, April 10, 2011