Singapore: Infamous Burger King ad

Burger King has a new sandwich offering in Singapore called the “Super Seven Incher.” To promote the new product, a local ad agency produced an outdoor ad which is now getting a lot of attention and criticism around the world.

bk-super-seven-incher

The ad has been criticized for its use of sexual codes to sell the product. Read the full text of the ad:

Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the NEW BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER. Yearn for more after you taste the mind-blowing burger that comes with a single beef patty, topped with American cheese, crispy onions and the A1 Thick and Hearty Steak Sauce.

The ad will run until the end of the month. Dan Mitchell reacts to the ad:

They got two “blows” in there. Nice. The sandwich (by itself an obscenity), slathered in unnaturally ultra-white mayonnaise, is floating in the air directly across from the disturbingly pale profile of a young, gape-mouthed woman who looks frightened to death of the manly meat. Sexy!

So good adds:

When I say “hot”, “meaty” and “7 inches” what do you think of? Well you aren’t alone. So did the ad minds behind this new campaign, who apparently just couldn’t resist the idea/imagery of a woman giving a blow job to a giant 7-inch hunk of meat. Just in case you couldn’t pick up on the subtlety of the idea, they decided to hit you over the head with it.

Garr’s posterous writes that the ad is stupid and insulting:

On their website they touch on who their target is: “In Singapore, the bright and vibrant Americana décor has made our restaurants the favourite meeting place for young people, including college students and working professionals.” OK, so it's not families or young children (I guess), but this ad is still insulting to teens and young professionals. Where's the respect for your customer? Even putting the objectification of the woman in the ad aside, this ad is poor simply because it's so, well, stupid…it's not clever. Is this Burger King? Really? Who on earth at Burger King thought this would be a good idea?

This is not the first time that a Burger King ad was cited for its use of sexual themes. There was the square butts ad to promote kiddie meals, an ad urging the customer to “pleasure yourself“, a shirtless BK King, and an ad naming a product after a slang term for a photo of a vagina.

Burger King released this statement in reference to the Singapore ad:

“Burger King Corporation values and respects all of its guests. This advertisement is running to support a limited promotion in the Singapore market and is not running in the U.S. or any other markets. It was produced by a locally-based Singapore agency and not by BKC's U.S. advertising agency of record, Crispin Porter and Bogusky.”

Lissa has a message for Burger King:

I understand that you ran this ad only in a limited market (Singapore). I applaud your iota of common sense that kept you from running them world-wide. That being said — See, there’s this little thing called the Internet. It allows us to communicate with people all the way around the world — wow! So I’d advise you to refrain from running ads like this

24 comments

  • Wah lan eh! Nice uh… job! It’s also very nice to see that the young blonde woman has her lipsticked mouth ready for the “Seven Incher” but does not appear to be showing any teeth. In other words, it doesn’t look like she’s getting ready to take a bite.

    It’s too bad Burger King didn’t use a local Singapore girl (or a Singapore Airlines flight attendant!) for this regional advertisement saying “shiok lah” as she gets ready to fill her desire for something long.

    By the way, there really is way too much mayonaisse on that thing.

  • It wasn’t but in the last few years that Burger King also used violence to promote its product(s).. Not quite remembering the entire scenario but I do remember several interconnected commercials.. Women were chasing the King with full intent of implied and/or expressed physical violence because he was, *I think it was*, taking their place in the kitchen.. *Something like that*..

    One gets the feeling that the marketing department is extremely.. inexperienced..

    Or perhaps is just plum out to prove a point, whatever that point may be..

    Gotta say from here.. PTSD-wise, I don’t appreciate blatant violence or similar being used to sell me something.. Burger King used to a real fave but has since moved itself into absolute last place directly due to its *CHOICE* of advertisement materials..

    Warmest wishes from Talking Rock.. :)

  • reese

    Honestly folks, if a racist-themed advertisement is run in the U.S of A which you would deem non-racist as per the usual, and if anyone from the East or anywhere else were to make their disgust known. I bet my last dollar that you would tell us to mind our own business. Or go back and toil our little paddy field.

    No? So I suggest, that you keep your nose out of something that is completely none of your business. I bet none of the commentators can exactly point out where Singapore is located geographically.

    South China, perhaps?

  • LMTB4

    Hi Everyone in Southeast Asia,

    I’m from the USA, and I’m following Singapore news on Global Voices because I have family living in Singapore. I can’t believe how in-your-face crude this ad is, and I am ashamed of Burger King. I don’t know if I believe that this ad was written by someone from Burger King in Singapore; I really doubt that. I suspect that it was written by the disgusting media elite of the USA. Things are so bad here with graphic pornography on cable TV, commercials, & even with “children’s cartoons,” that I just want to leave here entirely. Everyone in Singapore & beyond must get rid of this commercial and anything else like it right away; and you’d better protest really loud. Normal Americans (quite a majority) are absolutely inundated with this type of thing. However, our complaints simply fall on deaf ears. Most people, it seems have given up. However, I’m determined to get rid of this junk forever. If this commercial gets aired without enough of a fuss, Singapore could become like the US media; and believe me, you wouldn’t want that!

    • al

      I am a Singaporean living in the US and I concur 100% with your sentiments. Singapore must be extremely wary of this type of marketing. Trust me-this is not free speech! There is an ulterior and sinister agenda behind this type of advertisement. History will tell you that the conditions that precipitated the fall of the Roman Empire are almost identical to the conditions existing in the US right now. Be smart Singaporeans, if the Americans do not want to learn from the mistakes of the past, then you should. In the words of our venerable Mr. Lee Kuan Yew:”Man needs a moral sense of right and wrong. There is such a thing as evil…many of the problems existing in the US are due to the erosion of the moral underpinnings of society and the diminution of personal responsibility.” Singapore must be acutely astute in recognizing the difference between the marketing of evil and the expression of free speech. I am a distinguished educator here in the US and I see violence, degeneracy and lawlessness almost everyday. You don’t want this! Singapore will always be my homeland and I hope and pray that she never gets corrupted by these types of odious media.

  • i thought that it’s quite funny hehe

  • Angel

    The add is racist and tasteless. I lived for 8 years in Singapore and know they would never publish this add with one of the major ethnic groups that make up Singapore. This add creates a faulty association between white women and oversexed (not modest) attitudes.

  • Burger King…tasteless. I never thought I would say such a thing.

  • Tasteless, but not really new. Here’s a similar (if lower-production-value) effort from Moscow from almost 5 years ago – http://www.scrapsofmoscow.org/2004/11/advertising-in-big-city.html

  • […] in the past few months, when, for example, many people didn’t like the sexual innuendo in the Super Seven Incher outdoor campaign that ran in […]

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