Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Burger King Icon Scares the Bejesus Out of Me

Absotutely revoltin'...I've found something that scares me--the Burger King Guy. Item: I've never been a fan of things out of context, so a once forgotten "icon" strutting around with zero facial movement ain't getting the job done for me. It wasn't supposed to be this way...

In the '70s Burger King made a semi-respectable character compared to Ronald McDonald, and the Burger Chef guys. In short, the Burger King posed no danger and obviously not a ton of appeal either. By the '80s the King gave up the ghost of trying to compete with such pop culture luminaries like Mayor McCheese. The Burger King did pay a bit of gratitude to Ronald in his farewell speech before he went into "exile."

Flash back up to around 2004. He's back and he's horrifying. Plus there's no back story, no thread of why he reappeared or even existed. King of what? There's no people or province to speak of, at least Ronald McDonald had McDonaldland. The operative word there is had, thanks Saddam Hussein.

The Low Lights: Everything? Everyone from Herb, Steve Harvey, Brooke Burke, Hootie and Paris Hilton have experienced the BK curse.

The Brightside: Nothing and it won't be as long as that nerve wracking mascot's in the picture...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A couple things...

1.) Your blog is awesome!
B.) The Burger King guy cracks me up BECAUSE he is creepy. The person who comes up with the ad on the skyscraper is someone I gotta meet. Lots of dementia there.

Unknown said...

Thanks Steve! That king is creepy alright--him on a skyscraper? Oh no LOL.

Anonymous said...

I don't think The King would be quite as scary if he weren't smiling. The irony is that he would be far less menacing with a mean scowl of some sort on his face. I used to have a set of the original BK Characters collectors cards, but I think my mom threw them out. I do love the football commercials with The King emulating Deion Sanders and some guy from the Vikings. That's clever...

Unknown said...

Bill I haven't seen that commercial, that sounds cool. The Burger King guy was probably at its best in the late '70s. This guy's constant smile--horrible, only Pennywise creeps me out more...

Anonymous said...

How about the futuristic new one where he wakes a guy out of bed, gives him breakfast and coffee just before the woman in the commercial comments "he's good with his hands" Isn't it an obvious sexual reference?

Unknown said...

You know, I thought so when I saw it, making an already odd campaign that much weirder LOL.