Mouldy Whopper
Burger King
Issue 56 | September 2020
Agency
INGO, DAVID Miami, Publicis
Creative Team
Creative Agency INGO Executive Creative Director Björn Ståhl Art Director Max Hultberg Copywriter Magnus Ivansson Planner Simon Stefansson Account Director Rickard Allstrin Account Manager Mia Melani Final Art Åsa Eklund, Alexander Lundvall Tech Director Stefan Kindgren
Production Team
DAVID Miami Global CCO & Partner Pancho Cassis Group Creative Directors Fernando Pellizaro, Jean Zamprogno Senior Art Director Camilo Jimenez Art Director Sergio Takahata Group Account Director Stefane Rosa Executive Producer Carlos Torres
Other Credits
Publicis GLOBAL Chief Creative Officer Bruno Bertelli Chief Creative Officers Eduardo Marques, Jorg Riommi Executive Creative Director Pablo Dachefsky Art Director Ivan Montebello Copywriter Pablo Murube Production Production Company COLONY
Date
March 2020
Background
As a point of difference to their major competitors, Burger King set out to remove preservatives, colours and flavours from artificial sources from the food they served around the world. The new, fresher products were introduced to most European countries and to over 400 restaurants in the USA.
Idea
To demonstrate that they had removed preservatives from their products, Burger King showed their famous Whopper® sandwich covered in mould. The striking images showed the number of days that had passed since the burger was prepared, alongside the line: “The beauty of no artificial preservatives.”
Our Thoughts
This must be one of the most talked-about pieces of advertising of the year. It has been accused of being the sort of advertising young creatives in London and New York might love but which ordinary people in Milwaukee and Aldershot find disgusting. It has already won several prestigious creative awards. What interests me most, though, is the ads continued to run during lockdown.
They continued to keep a differentiating product claim in people’s minds while the brand was also embarking on local activations such as those in Madrid (page 41) and in London (page 24). As I’ve said elsewhere, no-one does ‘always on’ better than BK.