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January 12, 2009

'Whopper Virgins' campaign leaves a bad taste

Posted by Graham F. Scott at 06:19 AM ET

This might be old news to some: Burger King's "Whopper Virgins" ad campaign has been running for a while. Here's the promo:

I felt intuitively icky about the whole thing before but couldn't quite define why. Luckily, blogger Evan Calder Williams has articulated that feeling very nicely already, so I'll just let him take it from here:

The core of it seems rather to be: these are ads that hinge on the support structure of those subjects who do not grasp advertising, who are "pure." Encoded in this, then, is the oddly self-aware stance of the corporation: look, we know that your consumption habits are so mediated by advertising — as we want them to be, we're not suggesting that you change that, good God no — that you no longer can even taste things correctly. So we're bringing in a pinch hitter, the global dispossessed, to function as the externalization of the sensual apparatus you all used to have.

[Thanks Steve!]

More entries on: Advertising | Cultural industries | Development | Globalization

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Reader comments:

Yes, thanks Steve. I don't have TV at home, but I was at my fiance's place for a couple weeks over the holidays, and they have the big-screen comfy-couch thing going on... and I definitely gagged when I saw this one. It was one of many moments that opened my eyes to the wretched state of affairs that is broadcast advertising ... and made me relieved that I don't have TV!

Posted by: Dayanti Karunaratne at January 12, 2009 09:01 AM

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I'd heard about this campaign a while ago,but hadn't seen the actual ads until now. There is something very unsettling about forcing Whoppers on those so removed from Western culture that they have never had processed food. Kind of like the first time you learn about any sort of real-world horrors. There's no going back, really.

(For what it's worth, I've never had a Whopper or a Big Mac, but I doubt I'm immune to the advertising. In my head, I imagine Big Macs are tastier, which in itself is sickening.)

Posted by: Melissa at January 12, 2009 09:08 AM

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Thanks for the post, Graham. Ick is definitely it. I think part of the problem is that the advertising world and its viewers are obviously still romanticizing indigenous cultures. It seems no-one has adequately explained to them that the flip side of romanticizing is patronizing. The reference to "virgins" makes this even more apparent -- the ad is upholding the same "us" "them" division that perpetuates what in academic-speak is called "othering" ... or could also easily be called racism.

Posted by: Anna at January 12, 2009 10:46 AM

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