Burger King: Have It Your Way...

            In my quest to discover an advertisement or ad campaign that used sex in the ad(s) that also wasn’t mentioned in the chapter, I came across some… interesting things. Most of which I wish I could wipe from my memory. But I came across one ad that was demure enough for me to actually be able to talk about, but shocking enough to be worth talking about. A recent Burger King magazine ad in Singapore for the limited-time-only “BK Super Seven Incher” leaves little to the imagination. It features a doll-like woman with red lipstick on mouth agape, awaiting the delicious sandwich with the words “It’ll Blow Your Mind Away” below them. The paragraph at the bottom of the full-page ad reads “Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the NEW BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER.  Yearn for more after you taste the mind-blowing burger that comes with…” and then lists the ingredients. To top it off, up by the Burger King logo, the slogan “It Just Tastes Better” appears, a BK slogan at least I haven’t heard before. Maybe they only use it in Singapore. Maybe they use it specifically in this ad because of the nature of the ad.  In any case, it is absolutely shocking that such a mainstream fast food chain would use this kind of advertising.

 

            It’s not hard to imagine the rationale behind using this angle in advertising. Sex sells, and Burger King clearly wants a piece of the action… ok, bad choice of words. I don’t know much about Singaporean culture, but if theirs is anything like ours, the target audience here is teens and young adults who would find the ad funny. On that level, the ad would stick in the reader’s mind because it is so raunchy, and when a group in that age group would go to decide where to go for lunch, the reader would suggest as a joke, “Hey, we could go try the BK Super Seven Incher!” But on a deeper psychological level, the ad could induce craving. We as humans are sexual beings as well as craving beings. Playing on our craving for sexual intimacy could then spark a craving for fast food, namely the BK Super Seven Incher.

            Scripture has a lot to say about sexual intimacy and how it should be gone about, as we all know, but I don’t think I need to talk about that. But it would be helpful to talk about what Scripture says about craving. 1 John 2:16 says “For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes… --comes not from the Father but from the world.” This is a warning against craving and investing too much in any worldly pleasures, including both sexual intimacy and the BK Super Seven Incher. Scripture also has a few words to say about crude humor and language. Ephesians 5:4 reads “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place…” While we as humans are inclined toward sin, and often justify our crude humor, such humor (and self-justification) is not beneficial for our relationship with God.

Our world, especially in the past 10 or 20 years, has become extremely sexualized, in advertising as well as everyday culture. This Burger King ad shows what is selling to today’s youth, which gives us an insight into what our world looks like today and what we as humans are craving. However, scripture tells us that our worldly cravings are not from God, and therefore have no positive value and can only hurt us spiritually. (And also that crude joking is out of place in the life of a Christian).