UPDATE, April 15, 2009: Burger King to scrap ad after complaint
Fast food giant Burger King apologized Tuesday for an advertisement featuring a squat Mexican draped in his country's flag next to a tall American cowboy and said it would change the campaign.
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Gird your loins!
This could be the international incident that Joe Biden warned would happen.
Mexico is upset over an ad for Burger King's "Texican" burger.
Maybe the State Department needs to talk with Burger King about the importance of being a responsible global citizen. Running ads that are insensitive to Mexicans doesn't help our relations with our neighbors to the south.
Watch the ad.
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- An advertisement for Burger King's chili-flavored "Texican" burger that has run in Europe shows a small wrestler dressed in a cape resembling a Mexican flag. The wrestler teams up with a lanky American cowboy twice his height to illustrate the cross-border blend of flavors.
"The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican," a narrator's voice says.
...Mexico's ambassador to Spain said Monday he has written a letter to Burger King's offices in that nation objecting to the ad and asking that it be removed. Jorge Zermeno told Radio Formula that the ads "improperly use the stereotyped image of a Mexican."
...One of the things that most angered Mexican officials was a print edition of the ad showing the wrestler wearing what appear to be a Mexican flag as a cloak.
"We have to tell these people that in Mexico we have a great deal of respect for our flag," Zermeno said.
In the TV ad, the wrestler isn't wearing the Mexican flag as a cape.
Yes, the cape is green, white, and red, but the Mexican coat of arms isn't in the white section. It's not a Mexican flag.
In the print edition, the poncho the wrestler is wearing does have the coat of arms and resembles the Mexican flag.
More, from Reuters:
Mexico's ambassador to Spain said posters for the new "Texican whopper," a cheeseburger with chili and spicy mayonnaise, inappropriately display the Mexican flag, which is draped over the diminutive wrestler like a pancho.
"This advertisement denigrates the image of our country and uses improperly Mexico's national flag," Jorge Zermeno wrote in a letter to Burger King in Spain, the Reforma newspaper reported on Monday.
The ambassador contacted the local offices of Burger King after he saw the posters in Spain, Reforma said. The burger is only available in Europe, according to the paper.
Mexico has strict laws prohibiting the defamation of the flag, Zermeno said. He asked Burger King to cancel the ad campaign that "offends Mexicans and Mexico."
Burger King ads do tend to push the envelope a bit.
The one for the BK Breakfast Shots uses a little person as a farmer, doing chores.
The farmer says, "They're small, but they work hard."
Is that offensive to little people?
The Whopper Virgins ad campaign also created a stir.
Burger King's ads are succeeding in that they get attention. Because they're somewhat controversial, people talk about Burger King.
Are the ads creative or offensive? Funny or in bad taste?
Does alienating groups of people translate into increased sales?
It must be working because Burger King is sticking with these edgy ads.
1 comment:
I think the same person wrote both of the comments above.
Lame.
I don't understand the entertainment value of trolling.
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