Recently I received an Email about Burger King's new commercial featuring Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker:
"I was thoroughly disgusted with the latest Burger King commercial. I was watching the NASCAR races with my parents (who are in their late 60's) when 'the' Burger King commercial came on.
"I could not believe what I was seeing. It appears as though Burger King has to stoop to using 'sexual over tones' to boost their products. I was throughly embarrassed to see such a commercial aired. It doesn' t take a rocket scientist to see the level Burger King has succumbed to. I guess ordering a 'Whopper' will take on a whole new meaning.
"I will never patronize Burger King again, and I will be sure to get the word out to my friends and family members (as if they haven't seen the commercial also) not to eat at Burger King again!
"We are living in a society that bombards us with 'sex' no matter where we turn. The saying, 'Sex sells,' has just hit an all time low! We have children that see this kind of advertising 'trash' then wonder why we become desensitized."
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Burger King has done a good job of making their commercial stand out,
that's for sure. You definitely wouldn't confuse that commercial with
McDonald's or Wendy's.
For consumers like the one that's written that find the commercial extremely offensive, Burger King has alienated an entire demographic of potential customers. BK is going for a much younger demographic and using the people you see in the commercial is their way of doing so.
With any ad campaign, you have to be careful you don't lose customers while trying to gain them. McDonald's mainly targets the younger demographic as well but the fast food chain has also been working at bringing families in through targeted ad campaigns.
Wendy's has struggled with its ad campaign. After the flop of Mr. Wendy's ads, the company's trying to regroup. The 99 cent menu has been a huge hit but now other fast food chains are introducing their own value priced items.
BK has seen higher profits in this fiscal year than its entire last year. Some consumers like seeing the cameos in this particular ad as well as the hokiness of Darius Rucker in a cowboy suit and giant "tumbleweeds of bacon." Other consumers find it offensive and deny BK their business.
The real problem for the BK ad is the lack of focus on the product. Yes, you've got cameos of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish and E's former "Wild On" host Brooke Burke. But you have to see this commercial several times before:
A) You know what the name of the product is being advertised.
and
B) Besides some small BK letters here and there, you don't even know what company is advertising.