Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Whopper Virgins

Am I the only one who thinks that BK's new ad campaign is outrageously exploitative and racist as hell?

The have these people (dressed as 'native' as possible, of course) eat a whopper and a big mac to see which one they like better. I can't help but think this is just a bit fucked up. I mean, going out and seeking normal Americans who haven't tasted either burger seems more acceptable to me, but to go out and find people that are obviously foreign and clueless to use as a gimmick seems rather heartless. Do these people realize they are being used for a stupid ad campaign? Are they OK with that?

It is entirely possible that I am just being overly sensitive here, but I can't help but feel as if it's innately wrong to use these people as a ploy. Using racist stereotypes has always been a part of ad campaigns, but this one just seems to get to me more than your average pizza commercial.

Thoughts? Anyone?

2 comments:

Jeff said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

This was so painful to watch. I could already tell 45 seconds the completely demeaning and exploitative direction it was going. "Look! Look at the brown people! They don't even know which end to eat the hamburger from! Aren't they cute and dumb!" And then calling them "Whopper Virgins" implying some kind if adolescent naivete, just waiting for some big strong American to come along and pop their burger cherry.

This is completely playing on American's ignorance of the rest of the world and how they live, and our idea that their are all these indigenous tribes running around, all clueless and authentic and shit. It's completely ignoring the pervasiveness of Western influence on the rest of the world.

Not to mention, of course, that the food's all shit anyway. Do you really think Burger King is going to go through all the trouble of making this commercial and have their product not come out as the favorite?

Gah. This whole thing masquerading as some kind of social experiment, some kind of cultural exchange, is giving me an ulcer.