Several years ago, Burger King introduced a mascot for their fast food franchise. Appropriately enough, the mascot was a man dressed as a king who gives people hamburgers. Also, the King was outfitted with an unsettling plastic mask. The King looks like this:
The King's ad campaign had him pop up and present people with hamburgers in various situations. The King would suddenly appear behind a person, look at them silently for a couple seconds, and then hand them a hamburger. The King's behavior reminded me of a stalker who, upon finally gathering the gumption to approach the object of their misplaced affection, chokes at the last second and presents the stalkee with a value meal instead of the inevitable disembowelment.
So the King has always seemed like a strange figurehead for an ad campaign. He's creepy. It makes me wonder if there are even focus groups for commercials. In spite of his creepiness, the King isn't all that bad. Tough to say if that was always the case or if I've just gotten used to him over the years.
Recently, Burger King has started airing a commercial that ups the creepiness quite a bit, maybe even into disturbing territory. The commercial in question is for ribs. Yep, ribs from Burger King.
Surely you're thinking, "Ribs? From a fast food joint? Yeah, right! When pigs fly." Which is exactly what they were expecting you to think. Therefore, this ad was born:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcYHtCn3Ek&feature=related
Yeah, I'm not sure how to embed videos yet. What of it? So, the idea seems to be addressing the audience's initial reaction of disbelief to the idea of ribs being served at a fast food restaurant by using a flying pig man to promote the ribs. Obviously, this addresses the aforementioned flying pig imagery in order to reconcile the disparity between Burger King's usual menu and what is typically an entree considered out of reach for a fast food establishment.
Personally, I'd like to believe that the executives at Burger King understood just how big of a mountain they were trying to climb by selling ribs as fast food. Sure, they certainly seem more rib-like than that goo that forms the center of a McRib sandwich, but ribs are a meat that is best cooked slowly over many hours. And slow, or rather patient, cooking is not the specialty of fast food. Obviously. Anyway, I'd like to believe that the marketing people behind these ribs figured their best bet was to try to make the ribs look good by comparison. Because they don't look good by themselves. Not good at all. So they created the pig monster man to offset public disdain for the ribs. Because most things look good compared to the flying pig man.
If this is the case, the whole thing seems counterproductive to me. Sure, in the commercial the flying pig man is making the ribs look much more appetizing than they have any right to be by comparison. But suppose someone actually buys these ribs, sits down to eat them, and then remembers flying pig man assuring them that the ribs are good. That just seems like a recipe for a lost appetite.
That said, I hold out hope that Burger King will adopt the flying pig man as the King's sidekick. It can be the start of a whole pantheon of off-putting Burger King mascots that could eventually lead to a misguided attempt at a film franchise. Come to think of it, there were those ads starring the Whopper family. I guess we're already there.
The King's ad campaign had him pop up and present people with hamburgers in various situations. The King would suddenly appear behind a person, look at them silently for a couple seconds, and then hand them a hamburger. The King's behavior reminded me of a stalker who, upon finally gathering the gumption to approach the object of their misplaced affection, chokes at the last second and presents the stalkee with a value meal instead of the inevitable disembowelment. So the King has always seemed like a strange figurehead for an ad campaign. He's creepy. It makes me wonder if there are even focus groups for commercials. In spite of his creepiness, the King isn't all that bad. Tough to say if that was always the case or if I've just gotten used to him over the years.
Recently, Burger King has started airing a commercial that ups the creepiness quite a bit, maybe even into disturbing territory. The commercial in question is for ribs. Yep, ribs from Burger King.
Surely you're thinking, "Ribs? From a fast food joint? Yeah, right! When pigs fly." Which is exactly what they were expecting you to think. Therefore, this ad was born:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcYHtCn3Ek&feature=related
Yeah, I'm not sure how to embed videos yet. What of it? So, the idea seems to be addressing the audience's initial reaction of disbelief to the idea of ribs being served at a fast food restaurant by using a flying pig man to promote the ribs. Obviously, this addresses the aforementioned flying pig imagery in order to reconcile the disparity between Burger King's usual menu and what is typically an entree considered out of reach for a fast food establishment.
Personally, I'd like to believe that the executives at Burger King understood just how big of a mountain they were trying to climb by selling ribs as fast food. Sure, they certainly seem more rib-like than that goo that forms the center of a McRib sandwich, but ribs are a meat that is best cooked slowly over many hours. And slow, or rather patient, cooking is not the specialty of fast food. Obviously. Anyway, I'd like to believe that the marketing people behind these ribs figured their best bet was to try to make the ribs look good by comparison. Because they don't look good by themselves. Not good at all. So they created the pig monster man to offset public disdain for the ribs. Because most things look good compared to the flying pig man.
If this is the case, the whole thing seems counterproductive to me. Sure, in the commercial the flying pig man is making the ribs look much more appetizing than they have any right to be by comparison. But suppose someone actually buys these ribs, sits down to eat them, and then remembers flying pig man assuring them that the ribs are good. That just seems like a recipe for a lost appetite.
That said, I hold out hope that Burger King will adopt the flying pig man as the King's sidekick. It can be the start of a whole pantheon of off-putting Burger King mascots that could eventually lead to a misguided attempt at a film franchise. Come to think of it, there were those ads starring the Whopper family. I guess we're already there.
