Most. Disturbing. Commercials. Ever.

[lagilman]

The entire Burger King "eat with the King" commercials have been freaking me out (and normally I'd prefer BK to Micky Dees, without hesitation). But this morning I saw the Vader/BK faceoff version and, dudes? Have officially gone beyond Freaked and into total denial. What were they THINKING with this series? That it would be appetizing to see a scary-ass white man botoxed beyond comprehension grinning at you (often through your bedroom window) and offering a burger? Because, not.

Ugh.

Comments

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Wait until you see the plastic surgery ones. Unless they've pulled them already because, dude, those were seriously creepy.

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

I shriek in terror when the guy lifts the shade on his window. Then I wonder why the guy doesn't shriek with me.

[lagilman]

It's all sort of Freudian molestation weird, isn't it? Ugh.

[kaitiana.livejournal.com]

Ohmigod...you mean I'm not the only one totally weirded out by these commercials? Excellent! Very, very disturbing, at least to me.

[qnotku.livejournal.com]

Makes you seriously wonder about:

a) whoever wrote the commercials and what drugs they're on or asylum they escaped from;

and

b) the folks who bought them.

:tries to brush down hair rising at the back of my neck:

Teri

[lagilman]

More to the point, although we all remember the branding, how many of us are moved to go get a burger there?

Not me.

[eeknight.livejournal.com]

Agreed, those BK commercials are some mixture of bizarre and disturbing. WTF directed them, anyway, Tarsem (The Cell) Singh? I keep expecting the mask to come up and reveal

Hannibal Lecter
Commodus
The Crypt Keeper
Dick Cheney
Elvis
Burt Kwouk as Cato

They ain't making me want to rush out and get a Whopper with cheese either.

[vincam.livejournal.com]

Right up there with those Quizno's commercials with the guy raised by wolves, etc.

[jacardie.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the new one, but the whole BK series been creeping me out in the worst way. *shudder*

[merlinpole.livejournal.com]

I'm not their market, and they're not trying to get my subconscious attraction such that when I am thinking about food it occurs to my subconscious to signal Burger King at me.

The psychology of TV ads are to make brand names familar to the lowest common denominator, such that when one is shopping in a store, faced with a 100 foot long aisle stacked shelves with toilet paper, one will grab for the brand that there is the greatest subconscious automatic recognition of. Conscious cogitation is what it is not about, people who think about what they're buying and buy based on any criteria other that "most advertised/most familar by repeated reinforced exposure" aren't whom the bulk of TV ads are aimed at. The same goes for a lot of political ads, the candidate whose name is more familiar gets more votes typically, unless the person's been tagged and slimed to the degree of "Anybody but...." identification.

[lagilman]

unless the person's been tagged and slimed to the degree of "Anybody but...." identification.

Exactly our point. The BK ads have pushed us to the point of negative associations with the bramding. Not Good.

(I wasn't a marketing major, but I spent 15 years in what in any other industy would have been considered the marketing department...)

[janni.livejournal.com]

See, now this is one of the benefits of not watching television. I've never seen the Burger King, I've only heard the much less disturbing radio ads that refer to same. :-)