Thursday, September 23, 2004

Scary things on TV

Ok, so we don't watch much TV, but the last two nights, we've switched to broadcast TV after watching a DVD and seen the new Burger King ad, "Wake up with the King." If you haven't seen this commercial, I'll give the quick synopsis:

A man wakes up in bed to discover a man dressed up in a complete Burger King king outfit, complete with b'giant Mardi Gras Head with creepy frozen grin, lying under the covers next to him. He stares in disbelief for a few moments, at which point scary King guy seems to understand that his bed-buddy doesn't get what's going on, so in explanation, he turns around and produces a breakfast sandwich.

Uh, right. Iew.

This is freaky stuff. It could just as effectively be a PSA against binge drinking or roofies, or some equally dangerous mind-altering substance.

Geez, what were these guys thinking?

[UPDATE 07Oct04] There's now an article about this ad on Slate. The writer actually claims that the ad is effective in creating an edgier image for Burger King and getting the message out that they're doing the breakfast thing. Um, yeah. It's edgy alright. But I'm not sure it's gonna sell many burgers or breakfast sandwiches.

FWIW, after my initial feeling of queasiness and having given it a little time to bounce around my brain (still occasionally traumatizing), I do find it kind of funny, in a sick and twisted sort of way. But again, not really making me want to eat there.

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