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Brands react to Burger King's mouldy whopper ad...
The ad itself had the internet confused - do they love the authenticity of the product (or in this case, the freshness) or do they recoil at the gross visuals of a rotting Whopper? Here's how some brands reacted…
Internet users are now describing two distinct eras in Burger King's advertising style - pre moudly Whopper ad and post mouldy Whopper ad. The ad film that we wrote about a few days ago seemed to strategically rile up audiences - love the ad or hate it, users could simply not ignore it. The purpose of the commercial was to illustrate how Burger King's signature Whopper burgers would decay if exposed to external forces of nature - since they didn't contain any artificial preservatives.
It might seem like an odd activity to carry out - to buy a burger and leave it out to rot intentionally, but multiple consumers have conducted similar experiments to show how 'unsafe' the processed foods from fast food chains are.
Rival brand McDonald's - who Burger King loves to take digs at - announced in 2018 that their burgers would be free from antibiotics going forth, but they did not release an ad to prove the point.
Nando's Singapore took to social media to publish a tongue in cheek post that took a direct jab at the brand. In that sense, Nando's rode the wave - they joined the conversation on Burger King's moudly Whopper ad and found a way to create relevance for themselves. The copy of the post does not mention its rival's name, but the illustration made it plenty clear which brand was being referred to.
A Miami based burger chain called 'BurgerFi' put out a tongue in cheek response, suggesting that a preservative free meal was not necessarily one that's free from other synthetic materials and drugs.
Apart from other competing burger brands taking digs at the fungi-filled ad - Ryan Reynolds' Gin brand 'Aviation American Gin' decided to join the fun.
Reynolds is well known as a Hollywood actor for the tongue-in-cheek, nearly anti-hero roles that he chooses (think Deadpool and Deadpool 2), and his gin brand follows a similar advertising style. The brand's ad message was similar to Nando's - that as long as there was a glass of gin poured at the table, there was no going beyond Day 1.. or even Hour 1, for that matter.