Burger King's latest ad campaign takes the bold step of showing its signature burger decaying in a time-lapse video to showcase its removal of artificial preservatives.
The fast-food chain said that it’s showing mould “can be a beautiful thing” to highlight removing artificial preservatives from the Whopper in most European countries and in select US markets.
The ads will run in Europe and the US, and begin with someone making a fresh burger to the sound of Dinah Washington’s song What Difference A Day Makes, and then uses a time-lapse showing it rotting over 34 days.
In a tweet, Burger King said: “The beauty of real food is that it gets ugly.”
The Whopper is topped with onions, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and pickles, all of which will contain no artificial preservatives.
The firm, based in Miami, Florida, said it has removed them from the Whopper in several European countries – including France, Sweden and Spain – and around 400 of its 7,346 US restaurants.
It plans to get rid of preservatives from the burgers served in all of its restaurants this year.
By the end of 2020, it said all food items – including sandwiches, sides and desserts – will be free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives in the US and select European countries, including Germany and the UK.
The adverts have received a mixed response in the marketing world and on social media.
Some were put off by the image:
I was going to get BK today for lunch, I am earnestly not now because this made it look disgusting. I just saw a whopper commercial on TV, now this undid that. Free advice- delete this tweet.
— Joe D. (@BirdOPrey5) February 19, 2020
Other people were impressed:
what an amazing way to showcase your new product! Really smart and fearless. Things do rot naturally 😉
— ⚡️ Diogo Castro (@thediogocastro) February 19, 2020
McDonald’s announced in 2018 that it was removing artificial colours, flavours and preservatives from seven of its burgers.
View the video ad here:
