Burger King's Whopper Virgins
Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 5:06PM All right, it is not precisely on target in a blog on consilience, but maybe it isn't too far off on sustainability and our global perspective.
Those of us from highly industrialized areas of the globe are often so presumptious about what is best for the rest of the world. We nearly always believe that those in the developing nations are better off by following our lead, since we think that we know best.
Go to Burger King's Whopper Virgin's campaign (www.whoppervirgins.com) to see how people "who have never tasted a hamburger" react to comparing Whoppers with Big Macs.
One of the researcher's (a burger anthropologist) said "they didn't even quite know how to pick it up and from what end to eat it." The result may be an example of BK's (and our) pomposity and possibly a little bit of global insensitivity?
ENJOY . . . .
Reader Comments (5)
Now that's a great ethnographic study !!!!
Hi Grant,
I have several reactions to the film.
On one level I can see the lightheartedness, and that it is entertaining. There's even a level of sweetness and feel-goodness about the cultural exchange. It was done-up very well.
On another level I admire the determination to perform true taste tests in which the marketing has not affected preference. I admire the admission that marketing is such a driving factor.
I wonder about any American fast food company spending so much time out in the field. I wonder how soon they will try to advertise to the "virgins" and open a restaurant in their village . . . and how soon the (unsustainable) Western diet will take over with all the accompanying diseases. This horrifies me. This level was so relieved with the last taste-tester's "I like seal better".
I wonder about spending such a vast and constant amount of money on advertising campaigns rather than improving the food. That's what this is, an ad made from an advertising research expedition. No way would they have forked out that much money just for a fun cultural exchange. I think all typical fast food tastes disgusting and can count on one hand the times I have eaten any in the past decade.
I would really like to see a different sort of preference test sweep the planet: I want a comparison between the ingredients lists of a typical Big Mac, a typical Whopper, and a "typical" home made from real whole food burger. Just reading the lists, which one would most people prefer to eat? Which one would you want to eat?
Thanks for making me think!
That's a totally entertaining documentary, and a totally ridiculous purpose! As fascinating as this piece is, it also shows just how far away from sustainability our civilization is willing to go. It's a giant leap backward.
What better way to achieve world peace than through the promotion of heavily processed cheap and unhealthy meat? But how do they know without some Diet Soda to wash it down?
"Very Interesting."