Burger King Pops Whopper Virgins’ Cherries. Says He’ll Call, Doesn’t.
What could Burger King’s PR people be thinking? Probably that if they produced something outrageous, everyone would write about it, as I am now doing. Burger King spent a fortune to go to the ends of the earth and ask people who supposedly had never eaten a hamburger before whether they preferred a Whopper to some other unnamed hamburger. The results are to be announced tomorrow (Monday). Want to hazard a guess as to how this brilliant study will come out?
It’s hard to know what’s worse: the poor quality of the sponsored science, the offensiveness of the “Whopper Virgin” concept, or the condescension to the people living in those remote areas. As they say in PR, ink is ink.
The “documentary” at BK’s website makes the case that this PR stunt is really a scientific experiment. However, the accompanying taste-test videos makes it looks like nothing more than well-funded mockery: One man is faced with a double Whopper and a no-name burger. With bewilderment, he stares at them both. He doesn’t know what to do. Then, suddenly, he makes a grab for one. It’s the Whopper. But, he’s picked up only the poppy-seeded bun. Nomming gleefully, he is triumphant over the strange foods set before him.
The whole going to the ends of the earth thing is sham, though. They say in the documentary that they order food at a local Burger King and then go as far as they can in fifteen minutes (so the food is still fresh off the grill) to find their virgin. If you’re fifteen minutes away from a Burger King, you are most certainly not out of civilization’s grip.
And, if Burger King had truly been on a scientific quest, they should recognize the pitfalls in their tactics. Meaning, the validity of the taste test itself is questionable. First of all, demand characteristics, where participants act the way they think the researcher wants them to act, was probably at play during their ‘research’. With attention showered upon them, how could they disappoint the nice men with cameras? Secondly, given that the burgers came hot and fresh from a BK bag, it’s safe to say that it was also not a blind taste test.
But, how does this derision and bad science sell a burger to the Westerner watching the commercial? Well, like Marion Nestle points out, it does get your attention. If BK can do that, they probably figure their work is mostly done. You know that you can “have it your way” without going to ends of the earth.
December 9, 2008
Tags: fast-food, marketing Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Science & Technology, Uncategorized
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