A burger enters the mouth of an Inuit woman for the first time

Date

2008

Description

Creator of the image: Stacy Peralta for Burger King
Date of the image creation: 2008
Medium: Film
Person depicted: An Inuit woman of Isoortoq and Kulusuk, Greenland

In 2008 the American fast-food chain Burger King released a series of integrated web and television advertisements designed to showcase the company’s flame-grilled sandwich called the ‘Whopper’. The company, which has over 15,000 stores in 100 countries from which they extract around $4 billion in annual revenue, commissioned the professional skateboarder turned film-maker, Stacy Peralta, to direct the advertisement. Embarking on a remix of the ‘Pepsi Challenge’ taste-test, they wanted to find people who had, until now, escaped the grip of fast food and related marketing. Remote areas in Thailand, Romania and Greenland were selected, and Peralta lead a production crew on a journey to film these ‘Whopper Virgins’.

The footage they shot documents the participants — dressed in self-consciously customary clothes — struggling to eat the burgers for the first time. As Peralta repeated notes, ‘They didn’t even know how to pick it up’.

In case a global fast food company conducting a marketing stunt in impoverished Third World villages wasn’t enough, they also asked participants to compare McDonald’s iconic Big Mac with the Whopper. The promotional material stated: ‘If you want a real opinion about a burger, ask someone who doesn’t even have a word for burger.’ The ‘undeniable’ results from their ‘unbiased’ and ‘strictly substantiated’ research was—unsurprisingly—that the Whopper is the superior tasting burger.

The ad was styled in a purposely playful, offbeat tone, indicative of Burger King’s recent brand image attempt to appeal to the perceived ironic sensibilities of American audiences. Ethnic minorities — the Hmong in Thailand, Maramures in Romania, and Inuits in Greenland — were targeted by the corporation, leading to charges of orientialism and exoticism. The ensuing controversy, which saw accusations of imperialism and exploitation being levelled at Burger King probably served to further the impact of the advertising campaign.

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