Burger King Taste-Test to Burger Virgins

[Daisalana 33]

Really sad, that we'd do this.. because what we need to introduce to these villages is a high fat, high calorie burger. Go us. :cursing:

In teaser adverts promoting its "Whopper Virgins" challenge, the fast food chain describes how it sought out farmers in rural Romania, Thai villagers and residents of Greenland's icy tundra to compare its signature burger with arch rival McDonalds'.

"What happens if you take Transylvanian farmers who have never eaten a burger and ask them to compare Whopper versus Big Mac in the world's purest taste test?" one of the adverts asks. "Will they prefer the Whopper? These are the Whopper Virgins."

The "undeniable" results of the chain's "unbiased" global research – which involved "13 planes, two dog sleds and one helicopter" – will be unveiled in a documentary next week, according to whoppervirgins.com, the website promoting the campaign.

"If you want a real opinion about a burger, ask someone who doesn't even have a word for burger," states the site to a haunting theme of drums and pan pipes. "Watch the whopper virgins take their first bite."

But critics have slammed the campaign as insulting and exploitative.

"It's outrageous," Sharon Akabas of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University, told the New York Daily News. "What's next? Are we going to start taking guns out to some of these remote places and ask them which one they like better?"

Marilyn Borchardt, development director for Food First, called the campaign insensitive.

"The ad's not even acknowledging that there's even hunger in any of these places," she told the Daily News.

The campaign has also stirred up a welter of online commentary. Brian Morrissey, writing on Adfreak.com, likens the campaign to colonialism and declares it "embarrassing and emblematic of how ignorant Americans still seem to the rest of the world."

"It doesn't get much more offensive than this," noted The Inquisitor blog. "If visiting poor people in remote locations, some who would be at best surviving on below poverty levels and throwing a burger in their faces isn't bad enough, it gets better, because they also ask the Whopper Virgins to compare the taste of the Whopper to a McDonalds Big Mac as well.

"It's hard to place exactly where this begins on the level of wrongness."

Burger King under fire for Whopper Virgins taste test challenge - Telegraph

[tapshoes 2]

That is pathetic. How disgusting.

[plain 12]

Yeah.....there's a REASON these folks are burger virgins. Sadly, I made a few bad choices out of high school and I was known for awhile as a burger slut. :tongue2:

[Jachut 487]

Isnt it just disgusting?

These companies really do push the boundaries of moral behaviour. Hungry Jacks (which is burger king) recently introduced this thing in Australia called the quadburger - FOUR huge fatty beef patties in the bun, containing no less than 1200 calories, 75 grams of fat (WHOA) and god knows how much sodium. Why? They were very defensive about their decision to release it saying that if people wanted to eat it, then who were they to say they couldnt?

And you know, we have smaller McDonalds and Hungry Jacks serves here in Australia than you do in America and its still contributing to the obesity crisis, they are making squillions, why pollute another culture with this rubbish? Where does it end?

[Daisalana 33]

Wendy's has this new burger my husband likes, I make a face everytime he gets it.. "The Baconater" it's several meat patties & cheese & lots of bacon. Enough to make the heart scream!

I make better choices since banding, but I'm not a health nut.. so whatever, if people want to eat it..

But introducing ADMITTEDLY bad food to hungry villages is just pathetic. When has anyone said, thank goodness we came out with burgers, it's really been a blessing. It causes health problems and it lacks nutrition.

Very immoral of the companies.

[plain 12]

Not much different from big tobacco selling cheap cigs overseas to hook the populations of third world countries.

[miztrniceguy 1]

it is kinda sick...but i do love burger king over any other fast food burger in the midwest...In-n-out rocks overall

[MacMadame 81]

So am I the only one who thinks it's all a big hoax.. that BK didn't go to these countries and there are no "Whopper Virgins" only "Whopper Actors"??

[miztrniceguy 1]

i think it's fake, too

[HeatherO 7]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were actors as well. Many people who come to this US do not like our fast food (although french fries seem to be quite popular).

[OneHotMama 0]

here's a better video to watch!!

LOL, What the hell is that? Anyway, did anybody see the Saturday Night Live spoof of the whopper virgins? It was pretty funny, sad, but funny. It addressed that exact idea that these people were from poverty.

[miztrniceguy 1]

lol...that is a book trailer...did you like?