OK, I admit, it made me laugh the first time I saw it. But I don’t have kids. Do you think it is out of line?
Okay, that is just an awesome way to start my Friday.
I have to say I think this is more for the adults that like watching Spongebob, with or without their kids. I don’t think kids are going to understand the subtext; all they’ll see is it’s just a fun Spongebob song, and they certainly won’t get that it’s a spoof of anything. I don’t watch the show regularly, but I do recall them making fun of Spongebob’s square butt before, so I doubt the video is calling…let’s say undue attention to that part of the body.
Funny? Somewhat.
Appropriate for an ad for a Kid’s Meal? Not so much.
I had to laugh when I found that the short version has a cameo by Sir Mix-a-lot.
And by the comments seen in the Rolling Stone web article it is a very controversial ad, but IMHO critics are just missing that their square opinions will be free publicity to BK. And I’m cynical enough to think that that was part of the plan.
Hell, I’m reasonably sure he sang the BK version, or it’s someone who sounds an awful lot like him. ETA: I see the second link you posted says as much.
I think cynicism is spot on for this, though. Hell, it’s right there in the lyrics: “Spongebob, I wanna get witcha / ‘Cause you’re makin’ me richa!”
Double ETA: I may hit BK for lunch today, just to spite all the prudes in the comments section of that Rolling Stone article. 
I’ve seen much more disturbing videos with the “Burger King.” 
Thats not out of line. This is out of line: http://sbbde.ytmnd.com
If you’ve actually watched Spongebob shows, you’d know that Spongebob makes more butt references than this commercial. I don’t see the problem.
Meh…this video is aimed at little kids about the same amount that Spongebob is. That is to say, very little.
Nah, not out of line. Like Bosstone said, it seems like this commercial, like most recent BK commercials, is trying to appeal to a more mature audience, not kids. Hell, I’m an adult, and I freely confess to watching Spongebob.
BK ads for the last few years have definitely worked on the principle that any attention is good attention.
And who’s to say they’re wrong? After all, look at the existence of this thread!
You did notice that the commercial itself is for a kids’ meal?
It’s still the parents who decide if the kid’s going to eat at Burger King or MacDonalds.
When does this commercial air? Are they showing it between Saturday morning cartoons, or during Adult Swim on Cartoon Network?
And who do you think is paying for that kid’s meal?
And they are supposed to decide that based which will give their kids better sex appeal? 
I don’t feel strongly about it, but the whole thing does have the sort of creepy overtone that’s always sort of unavoidable when you mix kids stuff with adult/sex stuff. Because you know that the biggest fan of all for this stuff is some creepy 40 year-old pedo dude with a spongebob obsession.
“Daddy, daddy, I want a square butt too!”
This is awesome.
Yeah, I think that’s why it’s squicking me out a bit, too.
Don’t get me wrong:
- I think “Baby Got Back” is a funny song (I have a mash-up of it with “Owner of a Lonely Heart” on my iPod)
- I do recognize that SpongeBob has a lot of butt jokes / toilet humor in it.
- I also recognize that the original meaning of the song will be largely, if not entirely, lost on kids who hear the new version in this ad
- I think the ad, itself, is funny, in a crude sort of way
As TooSchool notes, the combination of that song with a kid’s meal (even if the ad isn’t meant for kids) just feels off to me.
Exactly.
Looking at the 30-second ad version on the Rolling Stone website, it’s obvious this ad is geared for adults- the tag is “buy an adult value meal and get a kids’ value meal with a SpongeBob toy for 99 cents” (emphasis mine). As Burger King themselves pointed out, this ad is meant to air during programming which has a primarily adult audience- there’s a different ad for kids which airs on Nickelodeon emphasising the toys themselves during shows such as SpongeBob (or maybe not during SpongeBob itself- that might violate “host selling” rules) which doesn’t use this material. (Heck, the last time Burger King had a SpongeBob promotion, their ad- which I think may have aired during both adult and kid programming and garnered a complaint from Donald “Most Appropriate Last Name Ever” Wildmon- featured a naked man stepping out of the bathtub with a sponge on his head telling his wife “Guess who I am, honey- SpongeBob Nopants!”) It’s definitely not as bad as Target rewriting the song as “Baby Got Backback” to sell school supplies. And besides, not only does SpongeBob himself often run around in his tighty-whities (and sometimes nothing), he lives in a town called Bikini Bottom- a double entendre that’s probably just as suggestive as this ad.