Mohammed Azhar
BRSP – Susanna Molander
SBS 20’
Critical branding


Holt, Douglas B. (2002), Why do brands cause trouble? A dialectical theory of consumer culture
and branding, Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (1): 70-90;
O’Reilly, Darah (2006), Commentary: Branding ideology, Marketing Theory, 6(2):263-271.
Authenticity

The consumer quest for authenticity: the multiplicity of meaning within the MG subculture of
consumption, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34 (4): 481-493;
Cultural take:

A cultural approach to branding in the global marketplace, Journal of International Marketing,
16 (4): 86-112;
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Mohammed Azhar
BRSP – Susanna Molander
SBS 20’
BRSP 48 HOUR HOME EXAM:
Analyze and critically reflect on Burger King’s strategy with help of the concepts and ideas in the
course, more precisely: How can we understand the campaign from a cultural branding
perspective?
INTRODUCTION
Recently, Burger King had released an ad campaign promoting the ‘realness’ of the ingredients
used in its new Whopper and its preservative-free nature; this campaign was known as the
“Moldy Whopper” and its point was to prove a point about the production of fast food as well.
The following articles: “Burger King's moldy Whopper is here to prove a point about fast food”
by Erica Chayes Wida and “Brands Line Up to Respond to Burger King’s Moldy Whopper
Campaign” by Ethan Jacob Kraft give their take on the situation and give some insights about
the campaign as well as the different types of responses from different brands and not just fast
food ones. Thus, based on these articles and the campaign that has been presented, I will aim
to give an analysis and reflect on Burger King’s strategy that they have gone through with. The
thesis that I am presenting is that it I am agreeing that Burger King has made an insightful
attempt to portray itself as a more authentic brand by being transparent with its consumers,
however at the same time also taking into account of the fact that this campaign is to
essentially capitalise off of the morality of the consumers through the uses of manipulation of
meaning, therefore making this campaign as a means of competing with rival burger brands. In
this essay I will present the concepts of critical branding and authenticity, then have them
interlink with the BK campaign and based on the literature of those theories, a critical analysis
will be given with an additional insight in terms of understanding the campaign from a cultural
branding perspective. The essay structure will be as follows: A brief summary of what the
articles entail and link the appropriate findings from the article to the aforementioned concepts
of branding; however those concepts of branding will also be explained to give a clearer image
of how they are able to resonate with the campaign, following the analysis and reflections that
are to be presented, a final conclusion will be drawn out reinforcing the thesis presented and
close the subject with a brief summarization.
THE CONCEPTS OF CRITICAL BRANDING AND AUTHENTICITY AND THE LINK WITH BK’S
CAMPAIGN
To commence with the analysis and reflections on Burger King’s campaign we must first
observe the details of what the campaign entails and what has been the result of Burger King’s
efforts of conveying their message and new route that it has taken towards being transparent
with its customers about the new preservative-free ingredients. In (Chayes Wida, 2020) article,
she mentions that Burger King is trying to make an important point about what people are
consuming and to be more heedful of the fast food they consume and this seems to be the case
due to consumers’ recent interest in organic ingredients which are free of any preservatives,
thus influencing brands such as Burger King to take an initiative and reconstruct their menus
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Mohammed Azhar
BRSP – Susanna Molander
SBS 20’
and launch products with the removal of additives which would present a more “real” product.
However as this may seem like a new initiative, previous fast food chains in the past have taken
this route as well such as in 2015, a chain called Panera
understand what the concept of critical branding and authenticity is. I will begin by elaborating
upon the former which is critical branding. Critical branding as described by
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