Texas Whopper Double Whammy: Gluttony And Looser

Burger King has outdone itself, earning not one, but two, simultaneous awards from the Curmudgeon for its ridiculous ad campaign for the "Texas Double Whopper".

This ad campaign gives new meaning to the term "killer food".

First, the Curmudgeon gives Burger King a Gluttony (our award for purveyors and promoters of obesity) for the Texas Whopper. (We used to think that "Texas Whopper" referred to W's rationale for the Iraq war.)

The Texas Double Whopper has 1050 calories, with 69 g of fat and 26 g of saturated fat (130% of the "daily value" for a normal human being). The burger clearly is a portion buster and nothing good can come of consuming this monstrosity. Add in some fries and a "regular" (i.e. 20 oz.) coke and you pretty much won't need to eat again for a day.

What's really offensive, however, is the ad campaign, aimed at younger men. For this, Burger King gets the Curmudgeon's "looser" award (our award to advertisers that portray men as losers--misspelled as only a loser would do).

Using the tagline "Eat like a man", the campaign features a guy sitting in a nice restaurant with his girlfriend (presumably former girlfriend by the time the ad ends) looking at a plate with four tiny portions of food on it. He rushes out of the restaurant, accompanied by a tune, the lyrics of which include being "tired of chick food" and "Yes, I'm a guy." He joins a growing band of 20-something guys who appear to be un- or under-employed as they rush out to get their "man-sized" helpings of Texas Crapper.


In one particularly demeaning scene, a large, muscular bald-headed dude in chains is trying to pull a dump truck while he attempts to catch up with a Death Burger held on a shovel by a punkish young woman.

Sure, it's supposed to be funny. It's supposed to break through "advertising clutter." It's supposed to be "edgy".

Well, it's not. There's really no excuse for advertising such an outrageously bad piece of crap food, much less labelling it as a badge of manhood. (Remember, the Curmudgeon is not against any particular food--we enjoy a good burger and fries as much as anyone--but size does matter.)

Interestingly, Burger King is about to go public with an initial public stock offering that its current owners, a private equity fund (Texas Pacific) hopes will make them rich. Here's an idea: change the name to Burger Death, and choke on the IPO.