Sex Sells? Burger King's new 7-incher ad is embarrassing



BK ad shows that fast food can not only taste bad, it can also be in bad taste. Whoa. [via garr]

Bon-Food Pte Ltd is the authorised franchisee of Burger King in Singapore. This is their website and the source of this image:

http://www.bon-food.com.sg/promotions/promotions.aspx

On their website they touch on who their target is: "In Singapore, the bright and vibrant Americana décor has made our restaurants the favourite meeting place for young people, including college students and working professionals." OK, so it's not families or young children (I guess), but this ad is still insulting to teens and young professionals. Where's the respect for your customer? Even putting the objectification of the woman in the ad aside, this ad is poor simply because it's so, well, stupid. It's too easy and too old; it's not clever. Is this Burger King? Really? Who on earth at Burger King thought this would be a good idea? Unless... if the goal was to make an ad so utterly stupid and bad that everyone will talk about it. If so, well done. I guess I just do not understand the BK brand (or I do not understand their market). Are they saying that since our food is so unremarkable, let us change the conversation away to anything but the actual product?

About the poster...

A Poster, must (1) get attention, (2) be understood, (3) be remembered and finally (4) we hope a desired action is taken. Usually designs fail to even get the first one, attention (there's a lot of noise out there). But if the ad (poster, billboard, etc.) does get noticed they are not always read/understood (and therefore not remembered). This one is an interesting: They really got our attention and we will remember the ad, but I'm not sure I understand what it means beyond the *obvious* sexual reference. So, they got my attention and I will remember it, but I'm not sure what "it" is, therefore, I'm not sure how this translates into sales. Along these lines, here's a comment from Advertising Age before this ad was out: "With Burger King, Crispin has been very good at cutting through the clutter, but it hasn't positioned the brand very well."

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