The King of Burgers, Patriotic or a Problem?

The fast food franchise as a whole has slowly weaved its way to becoming an integral part of American culture ever since the first fast food restaurant emerged. One, in particular, continues to make an impression on our culture is Burger King. The restaurant chain sells one of America’s most purchased food products, the burger, and has done well enough to spread throughout the United States and beyond through the use of media. One of the best ways Burger King has taken advantage of media was to spread its product through ads designed to be noticed and to eclipse all competitors through the use of major figures, but can sometimes have a secondary meaning to those who delve past the initial surface. The Burger King ad featuring the Mount Rushmore National Monument attempts to persuade it’s audience to purchase it’s food by revealing that even America’s Presidents enjoy the food it provides; however, even though the persuasion of the ad succeeds on the surface by showing a sense of satisfaction on their faces, it could be taken alternatively by stating that the ad illustrates gluttony and obesity in America to the point of the monument adapting to reflect this.

Allow me to describe the particular ad that will be discussed within this piece. The boarder of the ad is white with a Burger King logo in the bottom right corner and the phrase “The Whopper. America’s favorite burger”. The image depicts a clear blue sky and Mount Rushmore, located near Keystone, South Dakota. Carved into the granite mountain face (from left to right) is the sculpture of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Each of the presidents’ faces has bloated chipmunk cheeks and smiles to from ear to ear which supports the pers...

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...t to reflect that the faces within the stone agree that the food is worthwhile. The deeper we go into the ad, the more it seems that it could be warning the consumer of its food that it is unhealthy and that it has infected the American people to cause them to grow fat. However, if we go even deeper to the marrow of this ad, it can be said that it is a very philosophical was to show, rather than say, the American people that they are gluttons and consuming the world’s resources more quickly than they can be readily produced. The meaning of the ad can change for each and every eye it catches and can mean something completely different for each as well. Does it succeed, in the simplest sense, yes it does, but the further one goes into the meaning of the ad, the greater the chance of seeing something far more sinister and dark than Burger King had originally intended.