Clever Creative: Not So Pop(ular) Culture
Posted Friday February 22nd, 2019 in Creativity + Art.We live in a climate where many companies like to stay in a marketing safe zone with the same old cliche modern celebrity endorsements, corporate branding strategies, and hot-button issue commentary. And quite frankly, many of these companies are simply trying too hard. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see Burger King try something different with its 2019 Super Bowl ad featuring a 45-second clip of Andy Warhol unwrapping and munching on a Whopper. But for some viewers, the message wasn’t exactly in the bag.
See for yourself:
If you have a few more minutes, check out the longer-form spot:
At first the commercial serves its purpose, capturing the audience’s attention with silence and mystery, contrasting against the game’s loudness. Its minimalism is a bit reminiscent of the 1985’s Nike Michael Jordan “Banned” commercial, which was a huge success.
However unlike the Nike, Burger King didn’t include any sort of spoken message throughout the entirety of its video. It’s just Mr. Warhol taking out a burger from a bag, putting ketchup on the side to dip his burger and then finally eating it. The only words in the whole commercial are when Andy is struggling to get ketchup out of the bottle, saying “It doesn’t come out.” The ad then ends with the hashtag #EatLikeAndy.
Not to Everyone's Taste
The commercial is taken from a scene in the 1982 documentary “66 Scenes from America,” and according to Today, the creators wanted to show that Burger King is for all social and economic classes. It was meant to be an acknowledgement of the artist’s iconic quote: "What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest.”
However, the commercial left a lot of viewers scratching their heads, not knowing what to make of it. People on Twitter mainly focused on why Andy would take the bun off the burger to put ketchup on the side — a search for the tag #EatLikeAndy will bring you to some pretty funny reactions. The problem was that the spot failed to attract new customers with some millennials not having any idea who Andy Warhol is, let alone his now-famous quote. These reactions caused many publications to categorize it was one of the worst Super Bowl ads of the year.
If I had It My Way
As a millennial, I feel that there are a few things Burger King could have done differently to make the commercial more successful with my peers. They could have drawn a parallel between Andy and the trend of millennials reviewing and reacting to different types of foods on YouTube. For example they could have incorporated a new sandwich or meal and have famous young YouTubers eating and reacting also. Although the commercial was successful in creating attention, it missed an opportunity of having a purpose and mobilizing the younger generation to try a new product.
What do think of the #EatLikeAndy campaign? Let us know in the comments on our social media!
If you’re looking for some clever creative of your own, feel free to contact us, and be on the lookout for our next installment of Clever Creative!
Written by Rafael Cazares during his 2019 Spring internship at GEM Advertising.
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