I hate that damn “save the chickens” Burger King commercial.
For those that haven’t seen it (and I actually think there are 2 different versions of it), it starts out with a bunch of claymation people, animated by Nick Park (as in, Wallace & Grommit, and Chicken Run), or at least Nick-Park-style, and they are at a Burger King. They’re saying “I’ve got to have a Whopper!” “I must have a Whopper Jr!” then “We’ve got to save the Chickens!” followed by the clerk’s bewildered response, “Chickens? What chickens???”
Then it cuts to a scene of a bunch of chickens holding up signs saying “save the chickens” which flip over to “eat a whopper.”
I despise this commercial for 2 reasons:
It seems to be selling on the fact that the people are speaking with British accents. Selling something based on the fact that somebody from a different country recommends it is annoying, but unfortunately commonly used. The best example of this are those infomercials with the Australian guy, or the show Digimon…Digimon is MADE IN AMERICA, but they purposely use Japanese characters to spell everything. “Look at us! We speak Japanese! Worship us, children!” That’s a whole other rant entirely, so I won’t go into my hatred for Digimon, but the Burger King commercial is also guilty of this.
The commercial has NO FUCKING LOGIC AT ALL! Eat beef to save chickens!?! Is that implying that our ONLY choices of food on earth are chicken or beef? How does eating a whopper save chickens? And, doesn’t Burger King serve chicken-burgers?
The worst part is that I actually like Burger King food. I need to force myself not to eat Burger King, with the hope that if enough people stop eating Burger King food, the advertisers will get the message that the commercial isn’t working, and they’ll get a new campaign or something.
That might somewhat explain my confusion; I’ve never heard of Chick-fil-a, or whatever it is. I still think it’s illogical, though, and selling out on British accents is cheap. I also still hate Digimon. ugh
Uh… dumbass… you REALLY don’t think that the advertisers are REALLY trying to save chickens, do you? They’re advertising Burger King in conjunction with “Chicken Run”, in which the plot is to (surprise, surprise, genius!) save the fucking chickens. Wanna know something else? The characters in the movie speak in (surprise, surprise!) British accents! Wanna know why? ‘Cuz the group that put the movie together hail from Merry Ol’ England!
We have Chik-fil-A’s here in Ohio. We also have radio stations that have commentators with very cheezy FAKE British accents. All of the radio stations around here are owned by Clear Channel Communications Corp. The frickin’ zombies on the Dayton Ohio area can’t even tell.
BTW, the MOST annoying Brit I have ever had the displeasure to hear is…Robin Leach.
Actually, Digimon is produced by Toei Animation, a Japanese
company, and the episodes are created in Japan. Virtually no animation is manufactured in the US anymore. Shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Mission Hill, The Tick, and so on, are produced in South Korea. American studios create the series and American actors do the voices, but the actual labor of drawing the animation cels is done by animation studios in Seoul. If you don’t believe me, check out the end credits of animated shows. There will be a credit for one of the Korean animation companies. When I taught in Seoul, I had a chance to meet several of the American animators who supervised the teams working on different shows. AFAIK, the only animated program produced in the US is South Park. [/hijack]
Regarding the OP:
The folks speak in British accents because the ad was produced by Brits to promote a British film. AFAIK, American
ads do not feature foreigners as a matter of course. Sometimes admakers will use actors with British accents to a) suggest a sense of luxury and class, e.g., Jonathan Pryce in the Infiniti ads;
b)trade on name recognition, e.g., John Cleese in Schweppes ads;
c) because the product advertised is of foreign origin, e.g., Outback Steakhouse, which is supposed to be Australian.
It’s a movie tie-in commercial using humor to sell hamburgers. commercials NEVER appeal to logic; they tend to go for our baser motivations.
Anyway, it’s just a burger ad, lighten up.
The fact that Burger King isn’t serious about the claim “save the chickens, eat more beef” is irrelevant; my point is that it makes no sense either way. Can explain to me why eating beef would save chickens, even in some fantasy claymation world? (antiflame: yes, I know, most of it is not really clay, that’s not my point)
I have seen the movie. I’m not an idiot. I know it’s made by British people. I have also seen (and own and enjoy) all of the Wallace & Grommit(sp?) movies, plus a lot of Nick Park’s other work. It’s funny when people with British accents say funny things, but it sounds as if the people behind the commercial wanted people to laugh just because the people were ordering whoppers with British accents. “Aw, isn’t that funny, they’re speaking with accents. Ahahaha.”
I dunno, maybe it’s just me; the way they talk with those fake(-sounding) British accents really annoys me.
goboy:
Okay, I didn’t exactly get the information that Digimon was supposedly made in America from a very reliable source, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. I stand corrected. It’s still a dumb show, anyway.
On a similar note, the other day I saw a T-shirt in the mall promoting the show “Powerpuff Girls,” which used Japanese writing on it, using the same “It’s foreign so it MUST be good!” technique. Powerpuff Girls is made by Cartoon Network, and I’m 99% sure it’s written and probably drawn in America.
It seems pretty obvious to me that what both the Chik-fil-a and the Burger King commercials are saying is:
Eating hamburger = Cows die
Eating chicken = Chickens die
Therefore, the chickens would like us to eat more hamburgers so that fewer chickens have to die. The cows would like us to “eat mor chikin” so that fewer cows have to die.