What is with the sudden Whopper “Sandwich” verbage in the new Burger King ads?
Like, do they think people will confuse it with a Whopper tire iron or Whopper panty hose or Whopper soup?
Mmmmmmm…Whopper soup sounds good…
That’s hilarious because I thought the same thing when I saw that ad. Duh.
Could be a trademark thing.
I think that it is because a “sandwhich” sounds more healthy than a burger. They could also be competing with Arby’s “sandwhich” image.
So? MacDonald’s has called their Big Mac and Quarter Pounder “sandwiches” for years.
Here in the south, it is a Whopper “sammich”.
There is also a malt ball candy called Whoppers, so maybe they add on “sandwich” to avoid confusion with the candy.
They’re paying tribute to someone!
Coming from one who managed a “BK Lounge” for too long, I can definitively say this is trademark protection, pure and simple. If they always refer to their product as a “Whopper” sandwich, and never as simply a “Whopper,” then Whopper will never become “generic” and BK won’t lose their trademark. Beyond that, BK is at a bit of a disadvantage because lower case “whopper” is a common English language word.
Actually, you do see this more than you may realise. In their ads, it’s always a “Cross” pen, “Tylenol” pain reliever, “Ben & Jerry’s” Ice Cream or “Windex” glass cleaner but never just “Cross,” Tylenol," "Ben & Jerry’s or “Windex” despite the fact that that is how the general public usually calls it.
Aspirin was once trademarked and if the trademark owner had always referred to his product as “Aspirin” pain reliever, he might still have an enforceable trademark today.
I had speech class in elementary school, and they had picture cards on which an item was printed, and you were to pronounce correctly the item on the card. One of them featured a hamburger which was properly listed as a “sandwich”. It bugged me to no end.
There’s also the lesser point that if they call it a hamburger, it has to have hamburger in it. By calling it a Whopper sandwich, they can do anything they want with the recipe.
This being the reason why MacDonald’s stopped calling them “milk shakes” for a while…
A trademark is an adjective, not a noun. You can’t trademark “Whizbangs”, you have to call it “Whizbang (brand) octopi.” In addition to “sandwich” sounding better than “burger”, it also provides protection against someone selling “Whopper ground steak sandwiches” as well as making things easier when you come out with your own “Whopper chicken sandwich.”
As in the phrase, “Gimme that sammich, you summich.”
2329 Dopers using English as a second language are now scratching their heads going, “huh?”.
Eeexcellent.
I unnerstood him perfect. 