Given the number of people who have forwarded this to me, the ad agency that dreamed up this idea must be happy. But it it for real? I can’t find it on the Burger King website, so maybe it comes from The Onion? Anyone know the source?
Smart Money has produced a most instructive display of the cost of 100 calories in meals at fast food restaurants. Click on the numbers starting with #1 (for which you have to click on #2 – the numbers are off by 1 for some reason). #1 is the most expensive: $1.47 per 100 calories for at McDonald’s Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken. # 13 (click on #14) is a Burger King Double Whopper with Cheese at 49 cents for 100 calories but you have to buy 1010 calories at this price. The cheapest, #15 (click on #16) is a 32-ounce Coca-Cola at 38 cents per 100.
It would be interesting to do the same thing for nutritional value. Could nutrients (other than calories) be proportional to cost? That idea might be worth a closer look.
I’m deluged with messages about Burger King’s “Whopper Virgin” commercials and requests to comment on them. What could Burger King’s PR people be thinking? Probably that if they produced something outrageous, everyone would write about it, as I am now doing. Burger King spent a fortune to go to the ends of the earth and ask people who supposedly had never eaten a hamburger before whether they preferred a Whopper to some other unnamed hamburger. The results are to be announced tomorrow (Monday). Want to hazard a guess as to how this brilliant study will come out?
It’s hard to know what’s worse: the poor quality of the sponsored science, the offensiveness of the “Whopper Virgin” concept, or the condescension to the people living in those remote areas. As they say in PR, ink is ink.
December 9 Update: Guess which one won.
The last holdout, Burger King, says it too will stop marketing the worst of its junk foods to kids. This means it will only advertise kids’ meals that meet these criteria:
It’s agreed to cut back on some other practices too. A big step forward? Will this do any good? Let’s wait and see?
I’m confused. Is Simpsons a movie or a lengthy ad for Burger King? And is this about marketing to children or what? You can watch the ads and decide for yourself.
