Whopper Freakout: An Ad Worth Talking About
December 14th, 2007 by Brant Barton | Co-Founder and VP of Business DevelopmentHave you seen the Whopper Freakout commercial by Burger King? I saw it tonight on TV and immediately visited the site to see the full 7 minutes and 49 seconds of hilarious footage. In summary, the commercial does an outstanding job of showing the passion that BK customers have for the flame-broiled goodness of the Whopper. BK makes cleverly makes this point by denying the customers of one store their favorite burger.
Andy Sernovitz, a Bazaarvoice advisor and founder of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), likes to say (I'm paraphrasing here) that advertising is the price brands have to pay for being uninteresting. But occasionally some interesting advertising comes along that makes you laugh hysterically, possibly cry, and swear to tell your friends. That's the goal.
I'm not really a customer of Burger King's (my parents were McDonald's franchisees for over 15 years, so that would be blasphemy!), but I do applaud their advertising creativity in recent years. Subservient Chicken was a word of mouth sensation and the NFL replays that feature a cameo by the King had me laughing aloud. Whopper Freakout extends the streak. Well done, Burger King, well done. Pun intended.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Is it just me or doesn’t the guy at the end of the Whopper Freakout commercial look and sound like the comedian Norm MacDonald - I’m talking about the commercial with the two guys at the end. Guy on right makes his comment - Norm Macdonald guy (on the left) says, “yeah.” and sounds exactly like Norm Macdonald. Could this be the comedian at a BK in Las Vegas just hanging out - or is it his evil, long-haired twin?
December 16th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
[...] funny, and fun. I didn’t feel dirty for having been pitched to after watching it. (Brant also weighs in on [...]
December 18th, 2007 at 4:37 am
Wow - American’s are fat! They really should stop selling the whopper. Oh, and it’s not funny - just sad
December 19th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Is it just me or do these commercials sort of make burger king look bad in a way that “whoppers are the only decent this we have” sort of way…I don’t usually eat there but I just thought these commercials were kind of funny in that aspect.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
thing not “this”
December 20th, 2007 at 3:27 am
On Norm Macdonald… I was thinking the exact same thing… I could have swore it was hi!
December 20th, 2007 at 3:27 am
*him
December 21st, 2007 at 11:58 pm
I looked on the Internet and came across this posting. I was looking for “Norm McDonald and Burker King Ads” and came across this. That is so funny that I am not the only person in America who thought of this. I have a conspirary theory:
They didn’t want to tell us that it was Norm McDonald b/c his name was too close to the Burger King competition (McDonalds). Was that him in a costume? hahaha.
December 30th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I, for one, will not be “freakin’ dissapointed” about not getting a whopper. I think the new ad campaigne is disgusting, cheap, and ignorant.
If this is the only way they think they can communicate with our young people, SHAME ON THEM!!
My family will NOT be a customer again. Ever!!
December 31st, 2007 at 2:18 am
Glennys,
I have hurt you, deep. Don’t drag your family into this, our problems need to rest between the two of us. Come on down to any Burger King, and we can read TS Eliot poems to each other, while bathing and eating Whoppers. I promise, I get the “young people” those little delicious whipper snappers! Maybe we can play a quick game of hand strings with them while listening to some of that darn harpsichord music they love so much!
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
My grandson was looking at TV with me when this commerial ran at around 8 pm (to early) and he turned around asked me, “Grandpa what does freakin mean”?????????? What would you have answered???? I told him the first thing that came to my mind… “IT MEANS WE WILL NOT EAT AT BURGER KING EVER AGAIN”………and that is the truth…….NEVER!!!!!!!
Disgusted with them….. I called BK Corp. headquarters in FL….They gave me the “SO WHAT” attitude when I told them my family no longer are customers…..But When I called the local BK…..Managers there are just as appauled & shocked as I am. They were not aware of this ad…I have the commerical on TeVo….I made them a copy… There a franchise BK and are worried about sales now…..
January 5th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I found this site looking up Whopper Freakout Norm too. This post is now becoming the Mecca for people that see Norm MacDonald in that commercial. Or maybe here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMoj6DiUQe0&feature=related
January 6th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
My favorite part of this ad is that the Norm McDonald character is operating on a five second time delay. We were discussing what kind of drugs you have to ingest so that everything happening in the world takes five seconds to permeate your drug induced haze. Classic!
January 7th, 2008 at 4:48 am
heh… I got here by the same Google search… this is hilarious
April 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Damn - I searched and searched the web when that ad first came out to see if it was Norm MacDonald. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so.
I saw that Norm MacDonald hangs out in Vegas sometimes. He playes poker in tournaments occasionally.
It is completely conceivable to me that that is Norm getting his whopper fix after a good smoke. I have to hear from the man himself if it isn’t.