We must protest this gratuitous "facilitation of bit-shaking."

(heh sorry I couldn't resist using that phrase in a sentence)

This approach is not new for BK. Remember the "7-inch" ad?

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/phpimages/article/7/1/0/9710.jpg?v=1

R.

Because fast food isn't just lunch, it's a lifestyle.™ (I made that up as a joke but then realized it'd probably make a "good" slogan, so if a company wants to use it they can let me know and I'll tell them where to send the check).

The soap-on-a-rope is an interesting touch since it's a running joke about prison showers and not bending over to pick up the soap if you drop it (because... well, you know).

Anyway, I'd rather they put a webcam in the hamburger patty processing plant. I used to deliver machinery for a time and had to drop off some parts at a BK plant and noticed the workers walking around in piles of meat as it was being churned out of the grinder. They used snow shovels to scoop it up and stuff it into the patty-making machine (this was a little over ten years ago, so it might be different now). For what it's worth, at least the workers were wearing big rubber boots as they walked around in the meat, and of course the patty machine eliminates all the boot tracks. Yum.

And why no factory-farm feedlot webcam, or slaughterhouse webcam? Obviously those are rhetorical questions; we know why. I can't trust any food product marketed by trying to distract attention away from the actual food, and yes that means my choices are limited these days.

sure, the ad campaign is for (and by) imbeciles, but re: "Because, really, this is the kind of humor they think men respond to?" is a little bit of a stretch...I think it's pretty commonplace for people to respond to utter absurdity with amusement.

I think that the shower babe also is a commodification of women. Not only is she their to be looked at, consumed in that way, but she has food on her body, things that are literally TO BE CONSUMED. This isn't a pretty woman who likes burgers, it is equating women's bodies with food, and therefore, not with autonomy but with something that exists solely for you to use and consume it.

Burger King seem to have global campaigns in this line. Here in NZ there are locally produced TVCs that attempt to be 'tongue-in-cheek' about using blatantly objectifying pseudo-porn imagery, but frankly it's just a thin posture to try and excuse themselves for using it.

This one was banned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcTWwXyt_Rs&feature=PlayList&p=E0BD459AD2ED6DDB&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3

But several others in the same vein seemed to stay on air.

I've defended ads and advertisers here in the past but this campaign is just dumb as a brick. They are targeting 18-25 year old males very much at the expense of everybody else. Unless you're a hormone fuelled adolescent it's not funny or clever and you just lose respect for the brand.

I used to actively choose Burger King as a fast food outlet because I preferred the taste of the product. However I haven't eaten there since these campaigns started, a year or two ago. Most importantly, this was NOT a conscious sociologically aware personal political boycott - this was an unconscious response to the strongly negative feelings that the ads caused me to associate with the brand.

I feel vaguely sorry for the global franchisees who had this misguided and tawdry strategy foisted upon them by headquarters.

Ah, BK, the standard for marketing creativity. Nice to see they're still thinking outside of the box.

The thing that jumped out at me first was the "The World's First Guilt Free Showercam". Because the worst thing about watching women in the shower without their consent is the icky guilt you feel afterwards? I don't even know what they was trying to get across with that line.

Lol, I think it's funny in a way. The shower cam might be a step too far but it's not gonna stop me from eating there, regardless of BK's marketing 'mis-steps' I still love their food. And anyway, at the end of the day, it's their company. If they want to 'pornify' their marketing y not? I'm a little shocked they have carried a joke so far.. I guess to sum up, seems like we're taking this a bit too seriously but I guess the MSN writer has to find something interesting to write about each week... and this was pretty eye-catching. The "flame" thumbnail was what got me!

If the service, cleanliness, and food quality at BK is indicative of their virility, then they need Viagra.

I am highly revolted by the idea of any body grooming product being marketed by BURGER KING, of all franchises. I looked at the whole "proper man toiletries" ensemble up there, with the 'Flame' cologne item and the shower gel and lotion, and the first three things that popped into my head were nonstick cooking spray, vegetable oil and mayonnaise. Ugh.

I will concede the sexualizing of some food items (chocolate, wine, oysters, etc.) -- with some things it's kind of a given, due to the foods' romantic/aphrodisiac associations. But not fast food. The connection to sex is extremely forced and actually pretty off-putting.

This is such an awful marketing campaign. Forget it being offensive to women; it's offensive to my stomach.

Sex+Burger King= disgusting.