Square Pants in a Twist
When searching for controversial commercials today on YouTube, I was initially surprised to see Burger King’s “I Like Square Butts” commercial. But only for oh, maybe .2 seconds. Then I stopped to think about it and thought, “Hey, what were they thinking??” But now I realize, maybe Burger King is smarter than all of us (well, all of you…).
If you haven’t seen the commercial yet (and by the looks of things, you may not because it is in danger of being pulled and understandably so), it basically is a spoof remake of Sir Mixalot’s “I Like Big Butts” music video of the oh so lovely 90s. The difference? The girls in the video are shaking square butts with the King watching them and rapping. The point? Burger King is advertising for their 99 cent kids’ meals that currently have SpongeBob Squarepants toys in them. If you want to watch it before continuing on with my rambling, click here to see the YouTube video.
I guess the controversy that this commercial brings up pulls in the whole element of audience. Is Burger King advertising to parents, children, or a different crowd entirely? If the answer is parents, they are clearly barking up the wrong tree. Burger King is not this stupid. They know children will think the video is hilarious, as well as childless adults. So even though the commercial is supposedly for a kid’s meal, this is not really Burger King’s goal. They are following the lead of Victoria’s Secret…advertising their product, not necessarily to the intended audience, but with the same outcome- more customers.
Think about it. If you are a 20something childless adult (in the legal sense anyway), and you see this commercial, first thing you do? Laugh. Next thing you do? Think, I want Cheesy Tots (or a Whopper, Chicken Sandwich, Burger Shots, etc). Then you drive your ass to Burger King without a second thought about the commercial EXCEPT to maybe sing “I Like Big Butts” or call your friends and reminisce about Sir Mixalot. Burger King’s goal-met.
If you’re a kid and see this commercial, it may go over your head or not, but either way you a) want Burger King b) want Burger King or c) Burger King. Although your parent may be slightly peeved over the commercial, you know, as a child, that only a slight amount of pleading will get you your Burger King. Particularly if you sing the Square Butts song until your mouth is occupied with the sweet success of fried food. Burger King’s goal- met.
So, either way, parents are not the direct audience but they are nonetheless reached. They will be pulled in by their children to the Burger King drivethru despite their proclamation that they “will never visit that restaurant again.” Please, spare me. We all know that they’ll forget about this commercial the very next time something remotely controversial hits the land of media advertising. Burger King will survive… and prosper.