Burger King is undoubtedly the master of self-deprecating marketing, however, its latest campaign probably tops the lot.
The burger chain is portraying its famed Whopper covered in a film of blue mould in ads running in the US and Europe. The message: that Burger King is removing artificial preservatives from its burgers by the end of 2020.
The new campaign’s the work of three agencies – David Miami, Publicis and Ingho Stockholm – and includes print, OOH and online iterations.
It’s also arguably yet another dig at its arch-rival McDonald’s who’ve had a long history of having non-decomposing menu items. That said, Macca’s did promise to remove artificial colours, flavours and preservatives from some of its burgers back in 2018.
Will a mouldy Whopper entice customers into a Burger King? Probably not and already some people in agency land are calling the campaign “awards bait” – it won’t increase ROI but it will land plenty of Lions.
Still, some of the close-up imagery is undoubtedly spectacular, despite having a “this could possibly kill you” feel about it. Check it out below:
