Category: Odd + Funny Author : Duncan Riley Posted: November 30, 2008
Tags : burger king, pr gone bad, Stacy Peralta, whopper virgins, whoppervirgins.com
Subscribe: Tech Feed, Email, Twitter

Whopper Virgins: it doesn’t get much more offensive than this

Burger King will debut a new “documentary” later this week called Whopper Virgins, where a documentary crew takes Whopper Hamburgers to obscure locations for a taste test.

The “documentary” is being filmed by the now officially the mother of all sellouts “award winning director” Stacy Peralta and includes the use of “13 planes, 2 dog sleds and 1 helicopter.”

If visiting poor people in remote locations, some who would be at best surviving on below poverty levels and throwing a burger in their faces isn’t bad enough, it gets better, because they also ask the Whopper Virgins to compare the taste of the Whopper to a McDonalds Big Mac as well.

It’s hard to place exactly where this begins on the level of wrongness. The pipe flute South American music on the website, the pictures of people with horse and carts on one side, and on the other someone eating a Whopper. Hey, but that’s ok, because the testing was “done by independent 3rd party testers.” I think I’m going to throw up now.

If you can’t handle the pain of viewing the website, here’s some promotional images for the “documentary.”

Update: we now have confirmation that the “documentary” is being promoted through a TV ad campaign. We’re trying to track down who is hosting the site, but what we can work out is that it’s hosted on a PR company server, and the site shares hosting with Bayer and Florida Area Audi dealers.

Chaing Mai Resident

Hey dipshits, what makes it offensive is the way that it portrays Romanians, Thais, etc. Not all people from these countries are backward, ignorant bumpkins who have no notion of the outside world. In fact Chiang Mai Thailand is a relatively cosmopolitan city. They bring assholes from way out in the mountains and call them "Chaing Mai Villagers." It's the same as if a Japanese company took West Virginian Mountain men and talked about how they didn't know what sushi was.

Marguerite

Hey, dumbass, most everybody knows that these people aren't representative of their countries. The fact that you don't know that everybody else knows, and you think you have to tell the rest of us clueless folk, is what makes you an idiot. A condescending, over-educated, elitist, politically-correct idiot, lacking in all common sense.

baconman

wow you suck balls chaing

firelite

The idea is that Americans are quick to judge and make assumptions (which is our own fault), so using people in their native clothing sends a much clearer message than having people in blue jeans and a t-shirt but still trying to claim that they're from the remote parts of the world that don't have a Burger King on every street corner. Plus, the full 'documentary' hasn't even debuted yet, so all of this negative publicity seems a bit premature in my opinion. gambling games

CoryOBrien

I don't think the intent was to say that these people are representatives of their entire country, but instead was to quickly get across the fact that they haven't been exposed to burgers or burger advertising before because they aren't from main street America.

The idea is that Americans are quick to judge and make assumptions (which is our own fault), so using people in their native clothing sends a much clearer message than having people in blue jeans and a t-shirt but still trying to claim that they're from the remote parts of the world that don't have a Burger King on every street corner. Plus, the full 'documentary' hasn't even debuted yet, so all of this negative publicity seems a bit premature in my opinion.

However, the negative publicity sure has sparked a lot of interest in the commercial, so I think it's served them well, since they did take steps to help out the villages that they were visiting for the film, and they obviously want to spark some amount of controversy as seen by the use of the word 'Virgins' in the title, which isn't exactly a word that you hear used everyday, especially in advertising.

http://thefutureofads.com/2008/12/05/controvers...

firelite

The pipe flute South American music on the website, the pictures of people with horse and carts on one side, and on the other someone eating a Whopper. Hey, but that’s ok, because the testing was “done by independent 3rd party testers.” I think I’m going to throw up now. online life insurance quotes

firelite

I don't think the intent was to say that these people are representatives of their entire country, but instead was to quickly get across the fact that they haven't been exposed to burgers or burger advertising before because they aren't from main street America.
low iron glass

jackspade

i dont fucking get the problem either. seriously, i dont complain when a bunch of chinese people open up a chinese food place down the street and blame them for getting me fat. food is a personal choice, and to assume its wrong to bring shit like this out to a places like that, is to assume that these people arent capable of making their own choices. theres plenty of fast food places in asia and no one bitches about us making them fat. personally, i think its a DAMN GOOD idea. feeding this stuff to people like that really does get an honest opinion. stop bitching about Americanization, if everyone's got a fucking problem with it maybe you should take a long hard look at how many foreign companys make money out of america. no ones forcing the goods down your throat, if you dont like it dont fucking buy it and the location will shut down, its that easy.

baconman

that helps realize, if you think this test is wrong in any way, ....... YOUR A FUKING COMMIE!

pinkestpanther

Jackspade - the number of times your posts use the terms 'these people' and 'people like that' indicates that you have very little empathy and should probably leave the states every once in a while. Good luck when you do.

Jaime

I couldn't agree more, the best way to get an unbiased opinion is to use people who have not been exposed to the product. Whether a 3rd party or the King himself in costume conducted the survey, they wouldn't know the difference anyway, they are making a decision on one factor alone, what tastes best to them.

americanfear

what is your problem with this?
i think its a great idea.

Max

Well it is very telling that they chose not to show to 'feature' a burger expert...

rdj!

To be HONEST... I like KFC!

Ghandi

what the hell is wrong with you people you act like burger king and mcdonalds are the problem that people get obeise. If the fat f***s wouldnt eat 30000 f***ing burgers a week they wouldn't be that god damn fat. You can't blame the company when people can't contol how they eat. Besides a lot of people actually like their burgers and don't want to cook up a bunch of vegetables like a loser after a long day of work

Ghandi

by the way how is this offensive? the people doing it apparently aren't offended. and its not like every single person is a f***ing health nut. and who the hell wouldn't want free food? People today are so f***ing worried about someone getting their feelings hurt that they don't even consider whats right or make common sense.

c00ln3ss

obeise is not the fact that ppls are getting fusy bout this ad. its the way they're portrayin the ppls.

jackspade

theyre portraying these people as people whove never had a whopper. they never said anything else. its people own beliefs that their being exploited that piss them off. hell this is the most culture your going to get outside of natgeo

Pat

Oh stop with the whining about the commercial. It is perfectly fine. So they used the word 'virgin' that is crazy bad word. Wait is that the word that people expect others to be and stay until marriage; virgin. People are too uptight.

mark

haha, i think you missed why this is offensive.

Renaldo

Its just a taste test. People piss and moan over nonsense.

Grow up, get a life, and GET OVER IT!

easy big shooter!

i want a whopper AND a big mac now! whats wrong with trying the food of other countries? when i was in xiamen south China I picked a fish out of a tank, they cooked it and i ate it! then i ate the fish eyes which is considered an honor! i had eel, and pig shoulder, all from my own choice! and when i asked the chinese what they thought about mcdonalds and pizza hut, they said the food was good but an hour later they where hungry again, hows that for irony!!! all these people did was try something new! live a little, one whopper isn't going to kill you! unless you don't chew properly, but i see teeth in these "poor" peoples mouthes when they are smiling!

Cristina

Yea but did they make a commercial to be played on national television when you ate those food? And what are you talking about "poor"

americanfear

well would it have been wrong if they did? i submit that it would not.

Mark

Dont think eating hamburgers insults or humiliates these people. They were probably surprised, maybe felt slightly foolish, but nothing compared to what many people do in america to get on television. If anything, making such a fuss underscores a belief that these people ARE dupes, or victims, or worse. They werent handcuffed and beaten into burger-eating submission. They were asked to try a new kind of food, ok? Super Bowl commercials get rated every year.. why the horror over this new twist? But thousands do die every day of poverty. Thats not Burger Kings fault or Stacy Peraltas. Or the Whoppers. :-)

blog comments powered by Disqus

Whopper Virgins: it doesn’t get much more offensive than this

You might also like