Burger King to scrap ad after complaint

[SlowwHand]

Wed Apr 15, 9:03 am ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Fast food giant Burger King apologized Tuesday for an advertisement featuring a squat Mexican draped in his country's flag next to a tall American cowboy and said it would change the campaign.

Mexico's ambassador to Spain said posters released in Europe for Burger King's new Tex-Mex style "Texican whopper," a cheeseburger with chile and spicy mayonnaise, inappropriately displayed the Mexican flag, whose image is protected under national law.

The ambassador wrote a letter complaining to Burger King and requested the ad campaign be discontinued.

Burger King said the ads were meant to show a mixture of influences from the southwestern United States and Mexico, not to poke fun at Mexican culture, but said it would replace them "as soon as commercially possible."

"Burger King Corporation has made the decision to revise the Texican Whopper advertising creative out of respect for the Mexican culture and its people," it said in a statement.

"The existing campaign falls fully within the legal parameters of the United Kingdom and Spain where the commercials are being aired and were not intended to offend anyone," the company added.

A TV version of the ad shows the strapping cowboy and the pint-sized Mexican wrestler -- nicknamed "Just a Little Bit" -- living together as roommates. At one point, the American lifts up the Mexican to help him put a trophy on a high shelf.

Mexico was involved in another controversial ad campaign last year when Absolut vodka posted billboard ads in Mexico with an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as part of Mexico.

The campaign angered many U.S. citizens and was later dropped.

[Zkribbler]

...were not intended to offend anyone,"

Folks just get so offended when you derogatorily portray them as stereotypes. What would the Frito Bandito say??

[Lord Avalon]

Folks just get so offended when you derogatorily portray them as stereotypes. What would the Frito Bandito say??

"Ay yi yi yi."

[SlowwHand]

"Ay yi yi yi."

[Theben]

The complaint stems from inappropriate use of the Mexican flag. No mention was made of any PC-style offenses, real or imagined.

And besides Burger King has the worst advertising dept of any major brand name. Anyone who has worked in that dept for more than 5 years should be taken out back and shot.

[Zkribbler]

Carl's Jr's advertizing is worse. Remember the "wait just a little while" longer campaign, where they bragged it took you longer to get your food at Carl's Jr. This was followed up by the series of commercials where their customers dripped condiments on themselves.

[Theben]

Burger King sales nosedived in the 80s due to an ad campaign featuring some nerdy guy I can't remember. It never recovered. And lately the use of the plastic faced king is nothing short of freaky. The relatively recent ad with the king and some dude in bed, "BK for breakfast", made people think BK=gay.

Not our BK.

[Zkribbler]

Strange. You wouldn't think it'd be that hard to sell burgers.

[Elok]

What, you mean you didn't like the "Square Butts" SpongeBob tie-in?

[duke o' york]

Joncha's a big fan of the plastic-faced king....

[Ming]

Burger King sales nosedived in the 80s due to an ad campaign featuring some nerdy guy I can't remember. It never recovered. And lately the use of the plastic faced king is nothing short of freaky. The relatively recent ad with the king and some dude in bed, "BK for breakfast", made people think BK=gay.

Not our BK.

The characters name was Herb. They were awful ads. Unfortunately, they were done by J. Walter Thompson, the agency I was working for at the time. However, they didn't come out of our office, but from New York. When it was originally presented to BK and their franchise owners, they liked it. (I have no clue how they could have liked it, it must have been one hell of a presentation)

Theben, sales were already on the down swing, and the campaign only made things worse. Even though BK bought off on the effort and supported it, the agency is always the goat when things don't work out. We lost the account shortly after that, and all the morons at BK that approved it kept theirs

[Ben Kenobi]

The relatively recent ad with the king and some dude in bed, "BK for breakfast", made people think BK=gay.

I don't even eat BK. I prefer Wendy's up here or Whataburger, down there which I really wish had franchises up here.

[Ben Kenobi]

Theben, sales were already on the down swing, and the campaign only made things worse. Even though BK bought off on the effort and supported it, the agency is always the goat when things don't work out. We lost the account shortly after that, and all the morons at BK that approved it kept theirs

Wow, that's cool.

[Theben]

The characters name was Herb. They were awful ads. Unfortunately, they were done by J. Walter Thompson, the agency I was working for at the time. However, they didn't come out of our office, but from New York. When it was originally presented to BK and their franchise owners, they liked it. (I have no clue how they could have liked it, it must have been one hell of a presentation)

Theben, sales were already on the down swing, and the campaign only made things worse. Even though BK bought off on the effort and supported it, the agency is always the goat when things don't work out. We lost the account shortly after that, and all the morons at BK that approved it kept theirs

Speaking being the goat, our dad was Superintendent of stores in Chicago at the time and he was pissed when he found out about them, and griped about it even after he became a franchisee. Maybe I can send him your address?

[Ramo]

Mexico was involved in another controversial ad campaign last year when Absolut vodka posted billboard ads in Mexico with an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as part of Mexico.

The campaign angered many U.S. citizens and was later dropped.

PC whiners