Cultural differences in North American fast food burger marketing

Pulled pork on a hamburger is kind of a thing now, according to Burger Business. So it's no surprise that fast food chains are hopping on the bandwagon.

The best-known of the offerings right now is Hardee's/Carl's Jr., mostly because they advertise their products like this:



Slightly higher, in Canada, our homegrown national burger chain, Harvey's, is just... well...

Okay, they may be naively featuring the actual food as the star rather than gratuitous T&A. But this is Canada. We have our own ways of making people drool...

Yeah, that's right. We poutinized the mofo. Take THAT, America!

Burger quadrant helps you chart your post-craving shame

This is a pretty amusing chart by Marc Sanders of the Burgatory blog.

His explanation:

I caught a few minutes of Slap Shot on TV the other day including the scene where the Chiefs goalie Denis Lemiuex explains what it is like for a hockey player to spend time in the penalty box (video). His closing words “…and you feel shame” seem applicable to so many things we do in life, including eating burgers. If you’ve spent any time in fast food joints (and I’m guessing if you found your way to this blog you have) you’ve probably ended up in a second or third tier place looking to scratch that burger itch. Depending how far down the chain you have allowed yourself to go, I’m guessing you will at some point end up doing the walk of shame out to your car, or back to the office or worse to your spouse or friends having to explain just how far you’ve fallen. 

The chart above is my attempt to plot out my fast food burger experiences. There are places where I have gone, found the food to be amazing and then felt the urge to stand on the mountaintop and proclaim to the world that my taste buds have been sated and my soul has been strengthened by the manna from the g-ds. And then there have been places where I have almost instantly been filled with regret, embarrassed to mention how low I have dipped and yes – felt shame. I am taking a wild guess here by saying that I bet you have had those moments, too. For every story about hitting In-N-Out within 15 minutes of the plane landing in Las Vegas there is a tale that will never be told about a shameful trip to West Philly for a Baconzilla at Checkers.

I'm kind of surprised to see Canada's pride, Harvey's, on there. Even if they ended up as moderately shameful.

I'm lovin' it

I'm not a big fan of McDonald's as food (except for the Egg McMuffin, the best breakfast ever) or as a marketing machine aimed at kids. But this new Australian ad from DDB Sydney, aimed at men, does a pretty good job of playing into the ironic manliness that is coming back into vogue:



(Link via Make The Logo Bigger)

Canadian readers are already familiar with this campaign, though. It was Harvey's "Meat.Fire.Good." and "Long Live the Grill" campaigns from the mid 2000s.

Nonetheless, I'm always up for a good laugh at myself.

Great Moments in Hoservertising

Canada Day is almost upon us, the 24-hour period in which Canadians release a year's worth of repressed patriotism in one massive, drunken EH?-gasm.

In honour of the event, I'd like to take a look back at my formative years in Canadian advertising, to the days when all Canadian men were blue-collar, hirsute and named "Gordie". Let's start with a jingle that Labatt would do well to resurrect for a classic brand:



Molson on the other hand, celebrated the great Canadian wisdom that the best-tasting beer is a free one:



Watch how many stubbies you have, though, or you could end up like this dude:



Or even worse, if you juice on the job:



Speaking of Hosers, here's a 1986 Harvey's commercial with Dave Thomas doing one of his other SCTV roles:



This blog wouldn't be complete without a Timmy's link, even though their '80s ads sucked Boston Creme:



And Canadian Tire, back when they were still a hardware and automotive store:



Another great Canadian brand, this one courtesy of our tax dollars:



Speaking of which, I ought to end on Canada's greatest achievement in the realm of PSA:







And, of course, this awesome modern parody:



Have an awesome, proud, and safe Canada Day!

The sweet smell of flame-broiled desperation

Adfreak recently featured this Burger King ad from Singapore:



Not exactly subtle, eh? But what else can we expect from the corporation that managed to put Spongebob Squarepants and Sir Mix-A-Lot in the same spot:



Some people found this pretty amusing; others did not.

My interest in all this is how Burger King, as a "challenger" brand, is resorting to increasingly desperate viral campaigns in the face of tumbling profits. Sure, they're coming up with some very entertaining gimmicks, like joke marketing "Flame", "the body spray of seduction, with a hint of flame-grilled meat" and using a hilariously saucy web site to make it viral. (Although I did feel like I might catch something from it...)

But what about the basics? Perhaps "the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about", but I can't see how BK's innovative marketing efforts are going to get people to crave their hamburgers. A cheeseburger is just about my favourite food on the planet, but Burger King seems to have forgotten what they're selling. On the other hand, I thought Harvey's "Meat. Fire. Good." campaign of a few years back was just about the best primal pitch of all time. They know why I go there; they just need to keep reminding me.

In my humble opinion, Burger King needs to focus on the food. I haven't eaten a Whopper in years, and I'm not going to start because the company has a wicked sense of humour. Besides, no matter how cheeky a corporation gets in its advertising, the Internet can always do them one better (found posted on Fark.com):



That about sums it up. It's not the kind of fast food I'd be willing to lose friends over.