Does moldy Whopper leave you hungry for more?

The brand released a provocative time-lapsed video showing decomposition of their signature burger, the Whopper.

A whopper of a slogan:

“The beauty of real food is that it gets ugly … that’s why we are rolling out a WHOPPER® that is free from artificial preservatives. Isn’t it beautiful? #NoArtificialPreservatives”

 

 

The reaction of audiences varies.

“They should have ended it by reversing the time lapse back to the fresh burger at the beginning.   All I can remember from this is the gross moldy burger at the end. Yum!”

“For anyone wondering why they released this commercial, go Google the 20-year-old McDonald’s hamburger that hasn’t broken down”

“Genius. Hitting right at a customer concern. Marketing at its best.”

“This just proves that my never setting foot inside a Burger King again after the food poisoning incident was the best decision I ever made.”

At the beginning of the video, the moldy Whopper looks like it was prepared in a studio by food stylist’s, nothing like the burger one would actually get at Burger King.

The video appears to be a “mission statement” rather than an Ad.  Burger King won’t be showing the moldy Whooper anywhere near one of their restaurants.

The menu items on Burger King’s website still looks “preserved “.  After the initial campaign noise wears off, Burger King will go back to  standard advertising and branding.

Was this a brilliant publicity stunt, or a risky move that will alienate customers?

Either way, I don’t think it matters.

I would like to see Burger King come out with an innovative and mouthwatering campaign.  Today’s standards call for the end to over-produced, plastic-looking burgers.  Not only nutrition and preservatives standards changed but also food esthetics evolved since the 1954.