Comments on: Burger King’s “Whopper Virgins” Campaign Hits the Mark

By: Evelina

Evelina — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:27:52 +0000

“Again, I am nauseated at the idea that these folks were too stupid to make up their own mind about whether to eat some crap a guy with a camera offered them.”
- they are poor. They did it for the money…just as the actors from Borat did. That does not mean our wealthy arses have any right to judge them.
- they do know what a hamburger is…don’t be naive.
- It was not filmed in Transylvania but in Budesti, a city in the south of Romania.
- We feel offended because they presented romanians peasants like some kind of nature freaks that don’t even know how to eat a hamburger… implying more than 1000 years of culinary history and traditional food is stupid in comparison with “the trendy” hamburger.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa144/copolovici/romanians_against_whopper_virgins_3.jpg

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa144/copolovici/romanians_against_whopper_virgins_2.jpg

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa144/copolovici/romanians_against_whopper_virgins_1.jpg

By: Burger King Whoppers

Burger King Whoppers — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:54:45 +0000

Whopper Virgins Remixed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDLFN3nK7Go

By: Alin

Alin — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:59:36 +0000

This is plain “BS”. Romania might not best country in the world, and it might have been pretty bad during the communist time, but it is way different now. I do not know if they have to ask for certain rights for mentioning the country’s name, but these ads are just wrong. I am sure there is a fat/rich guy drinking beer in the Bahamas from the money he made from letting them project this image of Romania. Even though many people are offended by it, no does something about it; what can we do? I think this should be a matter of bigger importance to a national level, and not just an internet debate. We vote for a government to represent us and this is what we get. There are so many people that have business connected to tourism; all the international affairs are affected by this, made not too much, but it got to be a habit. First the Borat Movie, then Folger, now Burger King. What comes next? Romanians are spread all over the world, but pride can their be in telling people where you are from, when they see poverty and lack of knowledge in these ads. The problem is not in shooting ads in Romania, or have showing the conditions of the places there, it is more of projecting the right idea. They can make whatever they want to with the ad, they could have made it look good and everyone would have been happy, but now they risk having a lot of criticism. Maybe it does not affect the people Romanian people that do not travel outside the country, but it sure has an impact on the people that live outside. I, myself, live in the US, and I had people come up to me and ask me what the country is like. All they know about it is the poverty, and that we have many orphans. As the Orphan’s Agencies do a good job finding international support, they enhance the bad image of Romania. I am not saying that they should stop doing that or that it is wrong, my point is that we need other agencies in any domain to enhance the good things in Romania. That way there would be a balance.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:02:02 +0000

Alright! I think Andrew had the only straight-up and intelligent comment on the board!

As for Rin–he claims to think “people who haven’t engaged in western ideals are “smarter” than most westerners.” You would not guess this from reading what he has to say. It seems to me he has an extremely condescending attitude towards them–he believes they are obviously too ignorant to see the “truth” of the situation–it must be up to us to decide whether the poor natives are being exploited. I accept them as they are–the ones that choose to appear in the commercial are just like their American counterparts who would joyously appear in a commercial–and that is NOT a compliment. I am sure some of them told Burger King to get stuffed, just as some Americans would. As for the folks going on about the so-called food, I hate to burst their bubble, but even the “simplest” villagers I have met knew that eating something strange and foreign would possibly make them sick. I have been faced with the choice many times in my travels, and have at times eaten native food that gave me a hard time. Again, I am nauseated at the idea that these folks were too stupid to make up their own mind about whether to eat some crap a guy with a camera offered them. If they actually WERE completely ignorant of the dangers of foreign food, then I would say Burger King did them a favor–now they know not to eat BK burgers. It is a lesson many of us have had to learn:)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:20:09 +0000

I’m wondering why they couldn’t put similar burgers up against each other. No one who knows anything thinks a whopper is the competitor to the big mac… They are like apples and oranges.. they aren’t even trying to be the same thing… Why not put a stripped down Burgerking burger against the same product from McDonlads.. This proves nothing.

I bet these people would prefer a Wendy’s burger anyway… There is a reason they didn’t put the whopper up against a double bacon cheeseburger… It would get destroyed… Most people buy double QP’s with cheese from McDonalds anyway… not big Macs… if you want a Big Mac… a Whopper is not an alternative… they taste completely different and are made with completely different ingredients. What an incredibly stupid add campaign. Then again, it is Burger King, so what do you expect.

I wanna see the same thing down with their french fries.. Burger King ‘fries’ taste like salted cardboard.

By: Micah

Micah — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:55:00 +0000

Quincy, the straw men are really sore after the lady-fisting you gave them! Don’t hurt ‘em, Hammer!
“i dont wanna eat a worm on a freakin stick. I would get sick.” Having had the dubious pleasure in China, (in Thailand, they prefer beetles to grubs) I can tell you first hand that you will NOT get sick from worm on a stick. You might be REPULSED by it, but this is a typical reaction. You suffer from the American disease of confusing what you want with what you need. Having been to other places the intrepid crew visited in their video, I can also tell you that those people are not starving. I live a 6 hour drive from Transylvania and I have a PlayStation 3, free health care and 20 Mbps downstream… (in that order The thing is, if you’d never had a Whopper or Big Mac in your life and then ate one of each in succession, you would get sick. You would experience a severe sugar crash followed by nausea and potentially vomiting and diarrhea due to this and the immensity of the caloric intake as compared to your native foods.I’m no doctor – actually, I work in a sort of advertising too – but this stuff is common knowledge… Or maybe you all really are that ignorant? You tell me.
More interesting is how Crispin Porter could have gotten this right. “Creating a controversy” is not something a client like Burger King does without having substantial positive results on the back end. If there is any controversy, it is unintended and is just being spun as a victory. It’s not, and I hope someone gets fired over this. Anyway, how hard would it have been to compare the nutritional value of what the “natives” usually eat with the whopper? Couldn’t that have been done in a funny way? How about bringing a typical American Joe Whopper Eater and having him try to perform the daily tasks of the “natives” on his Whopper diet? That’d be funny too. Seriously, the commercial was an offensive, dumb idea badly executed. Thanks for hosting the discussion though!

By: DoctorRin

DoctorRin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:29:57 +0000

@Quincy:…..You have no idea what you are talking about. Nobody has mentioned about starvation once. It’s funny you started off w/ an argument nobody even mentioned. Just shows you are arguing off the fact people are rejecting the ad, versus reading whats actually being SAID. And to quote you, “If they wanted to exploit people, they would have gone to africa.”….Hahahaha….You are hilarious, plenty countries in Africa aren’t what you see on NatnlGeo. Despise, you think every exploitative effort must be made in Africa??!!!? Hahahaaaaa….Leave the words to the rest of us. Thanks for playing tho.

By: Quincy

Quincy — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:20:04 +0000

WOW. First of all, im sure these ppl choose to be rural, and second they didnt force them to eat the fucking whoppers. I hate people that always think america is out to get everyone. We have a bad past yes, but these people have plentiful food. If they wanted to exploit people, they would have gone to africa. And u people who complain about how kids are starving, i dont think you would donate 4,000 dollars either. This Burger King commercial is nothing more than advertising, and the people on tape were payed in their nation’s currency. And DoctorRin, you can shut up now, with your we strive for western civilization rant. Um and yea, in Thailand, i dont wanna eat a worm on a freakin stick. I would get sick. The world isnt falling apart becuase of america. The world falls apart becuase of whatever civilization is the strongest. First it was the egyptians, then the Romans, then the British, and now us. ITS NOT THAT WE ARE AMERICAN THAT COUNTRIES HATE US. its becuase we are the most advanced. WHO FUCKING KNOWS, freaking KENYA could be the next great world power, and when thay try to KENYANIZE everything, everyones gonna hate them. as for BURGER KING, do what u want with your ad money, but this ” controversy” is nothing more then a TREE HUGGER attempt to bring down ” THE MAN”.

By: DoctorRin

DoctorRin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:12:30 +0000

@ Drea: As far as being intrusive, we need to stop justifying what we do with what we want. We wanna travel to Thailand, but don’t wanna eat what they eat, or live the means they people there live. We want some Western life every where we go, no matter what country. We wanna sell burgers, so its okay to just yank folks from these countries that might not know our full intention and get them to eat our shit. It begins with trying to see the world in someone elses eyes. But to do that, you have to get to know what they are about. The problem is, most Americans don’t know shit about any other countries except America. So we hold an American standard wherever we go. This is typical of alot of countries of westernized thought. But america is the pinnacle of this ignorance. I mean, it’s easy to say “tribespeople” to people who seem “poor and other”. But if you saw a french town, we wouldn’t refer to those people as a “tribe”. This is the same level of ignorance shown in this particular article. These people have had civility for plenty of time, but we still place them with a suboordinate description cause they don’t have stupid ass sky scrapers. I tend to think people who haven’t engaged in western ideals are “smarter” than most westerners. We always strive for a “simpler life” but we use complex technology to achieve it. Ha fools we are. Finally…Yes, exploitation is apparent in many situations. I am not an anti-capitalist, nor an anti-socialist. i say any economy that is to work depends on the mindset of the people. Now as far as America, getting cheap labor to make big money has been a fundamental problem for all of it’s history. PEOPLE WILL HATE YOU FOR IT!!! Yet here we are, getting cheap actors for a big commercial campaign. the same shit new age. “It’s just business” they say. Liars.

By: Micah

Micah — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:17:51 +0000

Back @ you Drea: Here’s why it does. Burger King doesn’t come to the agency and say, “Hey, we have this stupid idea and we want you to do it…” The agency goes to Burger King and says, “We’ve got 3 different ways to achieve your marketing strategy this quarter/month/week/whatever.” It was their dumb idea. It was a weak, manipulative, dishonest idea. Had it been executed with an inkling of self-awareness or humor it might have been palatable, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t even interesting to watch. It had the air of a 17 year old girl’s pontifications on world peace, but without the ostensible benefit of being well-meaning. Like I said, keep it in your own ample playpen and I don’t have a problem with it.