Whooper's Advertising

One of the original slogans of the Whopper advertised by Burger King was There are 1024 ways to have a Whopper; the claim is based on on an exponential function of whether the sandwich has the ingredient or not. Represented by a binary number of 0 or 1, raised to the power of number of possible ingredients at the time, ten, thus 210 =1,024. This claim was later expanded to There are 221,184 possible ways for a customer to order a Whopper sandwich. Other slogans include It takes two hands to handle the Whopper and Burger King: Home of the Whopper.

A 2007 advertising campaign celebrating the golden anniversary of the Whopper shows real customers in Las Vegas reacting to the false news the Whopper has been discontinued. While it was not permanently discontinued, the ad claims it was discontinued for one day. Later versions of the ads had customers receiving a Big Mac or Wendy's Single and their reactions to the sandwich. In-store ads, such as posters and tray-liners, attack the size and quality of the Big Mac. The campaign won the 2009 Effie Award as one of the best restaurant advertising promotions for 2007–2008.

The 2008 movie releases of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull saw a promotional tie-in with the new Indy Whopper and the The Incredible Hulk with the Angry Whopper.

In December 2008, Burger King purchased the rights to an advertising campaign that centered on a taste-test marketing campaign, dubbed "Whopper Virgins." The test claimed to target participants who were unaware of the existence of Burger King or McDonald's, and had never eaten a hamburger.

Three remote areas of the world—Baan Khun Chang Kiean, Thailand; Kulusuk, Greenland; and Budesti, Romania—were targeted. In the test, the "virgins" were asked to try both the McDonald's Big Mac and the Burger King Whopper, and give their preference, if any. According to the advertisements and accompanying mini-documentary, the Whopper was the most popular sandwich among the test subjects. (wikipedia)


See also : ice cream, sour sally