Being the King Means Never Having to Express Yourself
Either before or after I saw Andrew Fletcher and Martin Gore touting their favorite EPL teams in a Fox Soccer Channel promo, I saw a commercial of a man in bed, who wakes up and finds another man in bed with him, then notices that he is surrounded by people. So, naturally, the first man, showing no change in expression whatsoever, produces a breakfast sandwich.
The man, you see, was a king. A Burger King.
Burger King has a problem. It needs to jump-start its breakfast business, but (according to BK's ad agency) when America thinks about fast food breakfasts, it overwhelmingly thinks of McDonald's. Burger King just holds no place in our breakfast imagination....
So, what to do? The key is to make sure that you "get credit" for the spot, as they say in the ad game. The ad must be unmistakably linked with Burger King. Thus the focus of this "Wake Up With the King" spot is not so much on the new Double Croissan'wich. (Though it is mentioned, and the sandwich is briefly pictured.) The focus is on the dude with the gargantuan plastic head, bejeweled crown, and burgundy robes. The King sort of hits you between the eyes—it's difficult to forget that he represents Burger King.
And oh, what a head:
But why on earth does the King have a plastic, three-times-too-big head, like some sort of King Friday bobblehead doll? Apparently, an exec at Burger King's ad agency (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) was trolling eBay for inspiration when he came across a vintage, oversized King head for sale. (The head had a hole in its mouth, suggesting it was made to fit atop a helium canister and inflate those animal balloons.) This massive plastic head sat in the CPB office during brainstorming sessions and eventually found its way into the campaign.
Now some might argue that the Burger King head is modeled on Jack from Jack in the Box. After all, they are buddies. But I submit that Burger King resonates with us because of an earlier character:
King Friday XIII rules the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. He demands—and often gets—respect from everyone, but underneath his stern and sometimes unreasonable exterior is a caring person who wants the best for his family and his neighbors.
Yes, the guy from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The guy who wouldn't show any expression. Although there is one important difference - King Friday talked.
To prove that I am not...you know, let's note that I'm not the first person to note this similarity:
Oh...and doesn't King Burger look like a life-size King Friday XIII from Mr. Rogers?
SloMo: yeah...very King Friday-esque...he creeped me out too!!! :D
King Friday was the name of the puppet on Mr. Rogers. Wasn't Morgan Freeman on the Electric Company? I like the burger king commercial.I don't see how it will sell that sandwich but I like its creepy weirdness.The sandwich looks vile however.
But it looks like this commercial was literally made over Mister Roger's dead body:
Yet, despite his Pied Piper knack for gaining children’s trust, [Fred Rogers] steadfastly resisted commercializing his creations. He once even harangued Burger King into removing a Mr. Rogers look-alike from its ads. (That was then....)
Incidentally, Mister Rogers has his own page on myspace. If people think the Burger King ads are creepy, what about a dead man on myspace?
Comments
On would expect their ads to be creepy.