Hasta La Creative!

Talk about shock and awe.  No corporation over the past few months has produced ads as controversial and interesting as the self-described King.  Unlike its previous outrageous ad, its aim here is not gratuitous sexuality.  Instead, BK goes straight for the cultural throat – satirizing sacred religious imagery.  Brash, offensive, over-the-top?  Absolutely.  Entirely successful?  Yes, and let me tell you why.

First of all, this was a calculated risk.  Released in Spain, where Hinduism is a minority religion, it ran little risk of creating major backlash.  The threat of a national release only encouraged BK.  Had the ad run in India, it would come across as an overt attack on Hindus.  In Spain, it’s only a comical ad that perhaps went too far.

Secondly, the proof is in the numbers.  Burger King reported a 1.6% increase in sales in May.  So, despite the outlandish, offensive nature of the ad/apology campaign BK has run the past few months, its numbers are increasing.  An established product , BK isn’t likely to attract copious amounts of new customers through trendiness.  It can, however, absorb the consciousness of the consumer base and attract from there.

Thirdly, there’s enough humor to the ad that many, if not most, people will at least get a mental chuckle out of it.  The sense of self-deprecating humor the ad portrays strikes a chord amongst many of the Seinfeld generation.  The notion that a Hindu deity would declare fast food a sacred snack packs plenty of sardonic humor.

I would not be surprised to see BK run controversial ads, apologize, run them again, and apologize ad infinitum.  Whereas in many cases an over the top approach can back fire upon a company, Burger King has the right confluence of circumstances for this to be a highly effective ad campaign.

I do like my eggs and ham, Sam I am.

Dan Davis is a Freelance Writer carving out his growing resume, specializing in copy writing, and subjects from sports to the arts.  Contact him on LinkedIn.