Gambling On Viral: "Whopper Virgins"

• Author unknown

  Obesity - Is the Culture of Fat Contagious?

  http://beautynlove.com/make-up/obesity-is-the-culture-of-fat...
  8 days ago in Beauty Love Romance · Authority: 1

  Filed under: Food and Nutrition, Diet and Weight Loss Have you seen Burger King’s Whopper Virgins commercials? They aren’t without their share of controversy. Most people are up in arms because the commercials are exploitative (and I agree), but I’m also bothered because I think Whopper “virgins” should be allowed to keep their virginity. Don’t go ripping off those promise rings, Burger King. There are precious few parts of the world that haven’t been graced with the golden arches or the King. In fact, I hosted a young boy for the summer of 2005. He lived in an orphanage in a very remote part of Siberia and, while he had never eaten it before, he was fully aware of McDonald’s and shouted out with glee the first time we passed by one. When it comes to obesity, the U.S. is certainly a front-runner. But we aren’t the only ones who consider getting fat a national pastime. According to some, the constant availability of quick and easy (and fatty, high-calorie) foods are largely to blame. Like a cold virus through a kindergarten classroom, our obesity-producing lifestyle is spreading to other cultures. And it’s a sad state of affairs. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Related posts:Wanna Smell Like a Whopper? Filed under: Stores & Shopping, New Products, Meat, Fast FoodClose...Childhood Obesity - Does America Cater to Obesity? Filed under: Diet and Weight LossBBC Health has a video...The Truth About ‘Genes’ and Obesity Filed under: Diet and Weight Loss Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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    (Day 554 / -161 lbs.) BK Virgins and Don’t Worry Mom, I’m Eating- Right?

    http://4point6.com/?p=407
    31 days ago in Steve v4.7 Weight Loss Blog · Authority: 106

    Image by JohnMMM via Flickr The latest Burger King commercial series seeks out people who they claim have never been exposed to a Whopper in order to have them choose their sandwich over a McDonald’s Big Mac.  They call these luckless fast food ignoramuses, Whopper Virgins.  Bravo, I say (facetiously).  Certainly everyone on the planet must be given the opportunity to decide, for the good of everyone who is actually within range of a Burger King, which one is truly best. The  less morally bankrupt and caring person inside of me; aka my conscience, my Jiminy Cricket, or whatever hosts that “wee small voice” in my skull is lividly indignant.  Why must another virgin be sacrificed through exposure to a juicy, flame-broiled patty and condiments to be included “your way” and two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese on a sesame seed bun only to be put on the rack of inquisition and forced to decide?  Certainly the BK empire can survive and prosper without proselytizing to heathens who’ve been protected by cultural or geographic isolation from conversion to mindless consumerism and until this campaign frolicked in naked ignorance of junk food and empty nutrition. I don’t have anything against Burger King- I used to eat a lot of their stuff.  I could even go so far as to say I preferred it over McDonald’s.  Their mascot (that eerily silent plasticine king with the giant head) creeps me out but their food has filled my belly many a time.  I also have nothing against those who by choice or by blissful ignorance have somehow survived (quite well) without ever having partaken of such fare. My goal is to become a born-again Whopper Virgin and fast-food ignoramus.  That’s right, I aim to specialize ignoramus-wise and continue to choose more healthy alternatives. Related articles by Zemanta Burger King’s ‘Whopper Virgins’ ads: just bad taste? Burger King’s New Ad Campaign Deflowers “Whopper Virgins” Burger King under fire for Whopper Virgins taste test challenge Whopper Virgins: it doesn’t get much more offensive than this [IMG Reblog this post [with Zemanta]] [IMG [Post to Twitter]] Tweet This

    • Author unknown

      Weekly Vegan Reader

      http://theinformedvegan.blogspot.com/2008/12/weekly-vegan-re...
      32 days ago in The Informed Vegan · Authority: 1

      Here's a few of the most interesting stories that are floating around the web this weekend. - Berlin zoo looks to sell baby polar bear. - Burger King proves once again that they have zero taste. - Once thought to be endangered, turns out they were just hiding. - The meat industry caused a land scarcity but there may be another vegan solution. - The 'fart tax' may not be as bad as it sounds. - Hunter learns that karma is a bitch. - Giant flying reptile may be dead; but alive he was a badass. And as always, something to keep you going... Think he knew exactly what he was doing.

      • Author unknown

        Wopper Virgin

        http://www.koechling.at/?p=152
        34 days ago in Köchling - Weblog · No authority yet

        Die Burger-King-Kampagne “Wopper Virgin” stößt nicht überall auf Zustimmung. Was haben ein Inuk, ein Angehöriger der Hmong und eine Bauernfrau aus Transsilvanien (Siebenbürgen) gemeinsam? Für die US-Werbeagentur Porter + Bogusky vieles: Sie sind alle drei die idealen Vertreter für ihre Burger-King-Promotionkampagne “Whopper Virgin”. Gesucht wurde nach Menschen, die noch nie einen Hamburger gegessen und mit der US-Fast-Food-Kultur Kontakt hatten. Sie sollten beim ersten Verzehr eines Burgers die Entscheidung zwischen einem Big Mac von McDonald’s und einem Doppel-Whopper von Burger King treffen. “Wenn Sie eine richtige Meinung wollen …” Wer den Test gewonnen hat, wird im Kontext der Kampagne nicht verwundern. Es war der Whopper, der die “Whopper Virgins” mehr überzeugt habe. Laut einem Bericht des “Guardian” habe Burger King auch eine eigene Agentur beauftragt, das Verhalten der Hamburger-Erstesser testen zu lassen. Zahlen zu der Untersuchung seien nicht bekanntgeworden, Burger King behaupte aber, dass sich ihr Produkt die meiste Zeit durchgesetzt habe. “Wenn Sie wirklich eine richtige Meinung über einen Burger wollen, fragen Sie jemanden, der nicht einmal ein Wort für ‘Burger’ hat”, heißt es in dem Spot. Virales Marketing ist rund um die Kampagne offenkundig erwünscht - und so laufen Teaser zu den “Whopper Virgin”-Spots bereits auf Seiten wie Youtube. Kritik von NGOs Doch mittlerweile ist Burger King wegen der Kampagne unter Rechtfertigungsdruck geraten. Vertreter von NGOs, die im Ernährungsbereich tätig sind, bezeichneten die Kampagne als “unsensibel” und “beleidigend”. Man habe Bewohner aus Regionen genommen, in denen es Probleme mit Ernährung gebe. All das lasse man unter den Tisch fallen, kritisiert etwa Marylin Borchardt von der US-Organisation Food First. Burger King: “Sensibel vorgegangen” Burger King versuchte unterdessen, Kritik zu begegnen, in dem man darauf verweist, wie “sensibel” man beim Drehen der Videos vorgegangen sei. “Wir wollten sehen, wie sich ein Whopper in einer Welt behauptet, wo es keine Werbung und irgend eine Form von emotionaler Produktbindung gibt”, zitierte das “Wall Street Journal” zuletzt den Burger-King-Marketingleiter Russ Klein. Links: Whopper Virgins (Kampagnenseite) “WSJ”-Artikel zur Kampagne Kritiker der Kampagne “Guardian”-Artikel

        • Author unknown

          A filthy taste in my mouth

          http://www.archcomix.com/?p=89
          35 days ago in Archcomix by Dan Archer · Authority: 4

          Courtesy of who else but Burger King. Their new ad campaign in the US, brainchild of some blue-sky nutjob at an uber trendy ad agency, sees unwitting townspeople from remote rural areas of Asia be subjected to a taste test between a Whopper and a Big Mac. It’s like some sort of postcolonial pastiche you’d expect on Saturday Night Live: look at the savages! They haven’t even seen a Whopper before! Bless their virgin tastebuds! Urrrgh. Here’s the link - the cynics amongst you might see this as propagating the viral contagion of this horrorshow (a big incentive in adland, lest we forget) but this is really something that has to be seen to be believed. Plus it’s part of a larger article predictably drawing similar amounts of bile over at the Guardian. As a more palatable salve to the above, my interview in The Other Side magazine is now out and online - click here to read the digital edition. I’m on p.8 plug plug (though I’ll consider you one of the converted seeing as you’ve already made it to my site). I know I’m due pages on the Chile strip - it’s coming, it’s coming - I’ve been backed up with Bash work, of which all I can tell you is my latest piece about raging grannies took longer to put to bed than I expected. You’ll see what I mean in January, honest.

          • Author unknown

            Add Whopper Virgins

            http://thegurglingcod.typepad.com/thegurglingcod/2008/12/add...
            35 days ago in The Gurgling Cod · Authority: 42

            The Guardian is on the Cod bandwagon, piling on the Whopper Virgins ad campaign. I had not realized how pervasively awful the campaign was -- in my day job, I have been spending some time thinking about the Global South, (aka the Hemisphere Formerly Known As The Third World), and even the ability to imagine people beyond the reach of fast food (for the moment), as "Whopper Virgins," is so chillingly imperialistic it would give Rudyard Kipling a postmortem Woodrow. But in its own way, you know what is just as bad as Whopper Virgins? Those little flags on the kiddie carts at Whole Foods labeled "customer in training." Of all of the ways one might construe children, "customers in training" is among the worst. If I ever have occasion to take a small child to Whole Foods, you can bet we will do a little arts and crafts project and make a flag of our own to put over the WF flag. I would welcome submissions of actual or imaginary flags for the Whole Foods Kiddie Cart Piracy Project.