Burger King’s Whopper virgins
The backlash against a fast-food chain’s ad campaign
“What could Burger King's PR people be thinking?” asked Marion Nestle in The Daily Green. The fast-food chain “spent a fortune to go to the ends of the earth and ask people who supposedly had never eaten a hamburger”—Whopper virgins, Burger King calls them—what kind of burger is best. (click here for the Burger King video) It’s hard to say “what’s worse”—the junk science, or the “offensiveness” of the whole concept.
But, as an advertising strategy, this could be a stroke of genius, said the advertising blog The Future of Ads. “If you believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity, then the sheer number of times that Whopper Virgins has already been mentioned in the press” is reason enough to call this campaign a success.
For Burger King, maybe, said Derrick Jackson in The Boston Globe. But what about the unsuspecting “guinea pig villagers” who, wearing local garb, are asked to eat this slop? This is just the most overt example yet of how America’s fast-food giants are trying to “colonize the farthest reaches of the world” with an unhealthy Western diet bulging with fat, sugar, and salt.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why are white South Africans emigrating?
The Explainer As the US welcomes Afrikaner refugees, the general exodus of South Africa's white population continues to grow
-
Why the weather keeps getting 'stuck'
In the Spotlight Record hot and dry spring caused by 'blocked' area of high pressure above the UK
-
Can Starmer sell himself as the 'tough on immigration' PM?
Today's Big Question Former human rights lawyer 'now needs to own the change – not just mouth the slogans' to win over a sceptical public