Just in case you thought big corporate marketing couldn't get any more exploitive.
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JB at 12.12.08 - 4:28 pm
For 'real' taste test, Burger King uses third-world 'Whopper Virgins'Andrew McLemore
Published: Friday December 12, 2008
In another attempt at proving its burger supremacy, Burger King went to third-world countries to perform "real" taste tests with "real people."
In a documentary-style advertisement called "Whopper Virgins," the popular franchise traveled to remote parts of the world supposedly insulated from Western culture and used researchers to conduct taste tests of Burger King's Whopper and the McDonald's Big Mac.
"Well, what we're doing is really talking to people who have absolutely no awareness of either Burger King or McDonald's advertising and have never experienced a hamburger, typically very difficult people to find," said one researcher in the video.
But the villagers can't be that insulated.
To ensure freshness, one of the researchers said the burgers must be eaten within 15 minutes of their creation -- at the Burger King and McDonald's a couple miles away.
The advertisement includes Romanian and Thai villagers puzzling over the hamburgers and laughing as the researcher tells them how to hold and eat them correctly.
"They come in underneath and do the one-hander, then they look at it," one of the filmmakers said. "It took them awhile to understand the dynamics of it. So that was fascinating to see because we live in America where hamburgers are consumed like a staple."
In a dramatic and unexpected climax accompanied by sighing string instruments, the Whopper is the preferred burger of the awe-inspired, Whopper-struck citizens of Thailand and Romania.
"Please come visit again," the Thai villager told the filmmakers.
"You are always welcome," the Romanian man said.
In a story titled "Battle of the Brands," Burger King is said to have gained ground on McDonald's because of its superior marketing strategies.
A blogger called "Whopper Virgins," "one of my favorite ad campaigns ever."
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