What Does Burger King’s Strange New Slogan Mean?

Burger King is changing it’s slogan from “have it your way” to “be your way,” and it might be one of the most confusing slogans ever created for selling hamburgers. When they first revealed the new slogan on May 20th, the idea they said, was to show the world that the King had a new global attitude. Nevertheless, is the new slogan an improvement?

The old slogan “have it your way” seemed more like a business practice than a slogan. As if to say that Burger King, and only Burger King, would take your outrageous custom orders. No other fast food location would tolerate extra tomatoes or any other such nonsense that deviated from the set corporate menu.

Of course, that’s not true.

In fact, Burger King is not really people’s “go to” location for strange custom orders. Firms like Subway and Chipotle give the customer a supervisor position over the creation of their food. And when it comes to burgers, it’s hard to top In and Out’s secret menu.

“Have it your way” seems to be the norm, which means that the slogan does nothing to make Burger King different from every other fast food place.

So what about the new slogan? What does “be your way” even mean?

According to a corporate press release: “Burger King restaurants are, and always have been, a place where you come as you are, eat what you want, how you want, with whom you want, and step out of this world of standardization that tells you if you do something different, people might look at you. The Burger King brand says, “bring on the eyeballs.””

In an increasingly food-conscience society where dieting and organic, local foods continue to gain popularity; fast food could be considered different, maybe. And stepping into a Burger King might cause someone to look at you in a judgmental way, kind of.

So Burger King is saying, forget about those dieting health conscience people, just do what you want.

In comes the Extra Long BBQ Burger. If any sandwich emphasized Burger King’s new culture of eating what you want regardless of social consequence, it would be the Extra Long BBQ Burger. It is two burger patties placed side-by-side in a hoagie bun, covered in onion rings and barbecue sauce.

Not one hint of green is anywhere in the sandwich.

However, once again Burger King seems to be making the same mistake with the new slogan as it had with the old, it doesn’t make the restaurant seem different.

All fast food places thrive by selling unhealthy food, and very few people think otherwise when walking into a fast food location. The Extra Long BBQ Burger is a great example of tasty unhealthy food that defies the social consciousness, but so is the quesarito and most other fast food creations.

Changing the Burger King slogan may be a good idea, maybe even better than getting rid of the creepy “the King” mascot, but selling the new slogan might be a hard bite to swallow.