The No. 2 burger maker in the United States asked farmers in the Transylvania region of Romania, the Hmong tribe of Thailand, and other folks in far-flung places, to sample its Whopper alongside McDonald's Big Mac and declare the winner.
One ad, set to begin airing Monday, features images of villagers in traditional garb choosing the Whopper over the Big Mac. A Transylvanian woman, an Inuit tribesman from the Icelandic tundra and others point and, in their native tongues, declare their preference for Burger King's flagship product.
''We traveled to find the most isolated people in the world . . . the world's purest taste test,'' a voice-over says.
Burger King says it was trying to find ''Whopper Virgins,'' which is also the name of its campaign.
''We wanted to see how the Whopper would perform in a world that didn't have ad or marketing awareness or any sentimental attachments'' to either brand, says Russ Klein, president of global marketing, strategy and innovation at Burger King Holdings.
But it didn't take long for the campaign to get flame-broiled by controversy. Teaser ads, which started running earlier this week to help build excitement for the campaign by showing snippets from the experiment, have been criticized by bloggers and pundits as tasteless and potentially exploitative.
A headline on the blog Stereohyped read: 'Burger King Storms Innocent Villages to Plunder `Virgins.' ''
Another blogger, on Walletpop, wrote: ``What might irk people is the concept that Burger King is taking its fat-laden fast food to people who aren't used to this stuff in their diets, who aren't usually subject to our crass commercials, and who probably don't really care too much.''
Source:
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/nation/story/801768.html
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