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Rate the Ad: Burger King: SpongeBob

Sir Mix-a-Lot meets SpongeBob for Burger King happy meals.

Published: Apr 08, 2009
Last week on Rate the Ad, we saw Padma Lakshmi get hot and steamy over Western bacon burgers. For Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, the Top Chef host and ex-model enthusiastically devours an oversize sandwich, complete with excessive cleavage, licking and references to being naughty. We wanted to know if you were enticed, disgusted or downright embarrassed for the established foodie turned sexpot.

Amid the occasional "I need a burger," most in Rate the Adland were unimpressed with both Padma and the creatives. Commenter "jreigelman" says, "Very disappointed when I saw this ad. Even understanding the tone of the Hardee's campaign, it just isn't a good fit--especially for Padma. It definitely degrades her image, and it even seems a little off base from Hardee's. This one misses the mark for me."

Padma's reputation aside, "DAFuller" adds: "I don't believe it. I don't believe the lady, dressed as she is, would be doing what she's doing. I don't believe she cares about the bacon. And I think the thing is just a big cliche. So no, I'm not enticed, No, I'm not disgusted. I'm wishing for better creative."

This week, we'll stay in Burger Land to watch the Burger King bust a move in a veritable mash-up of memes, eras and age groups. In a faux music video, the Burger King rewrites Sir Mix-a-Lot's 1993 classic "Baby Got Back" into a celebration of square butts, all to promote the fast food chain's $0.99 SpongeBob SquarePants happy meal. After all, the King likes square butts and cannot lie, Squid and Sea Star can't deny. The spot from Crispin Porter + Bogusky finds the dancing King stopping to measure the fly girls' square bottoms and a cameo by Sir Mix-a-Lot himself. Is this a smart way to sell plastic toys and fast food to kids? Do early '90s rap songs mean anything to them? Even if they like the song, is it too sexually explicit for the age group? Do you--and those kids' parents--love the song enough to not care? Should we expect a rash of booty-shaking children stuffing their pants with phone books? With childhood obesity on the rise, how do you feel about using SpongeBob to sell hamburgers? Share your thoughts, below.
10 Comments: By davehelfrey April 8th, 2009 07:16:30 pm

That is a pantload of genius. Kudos to Burger King and Crispin for remembering that parents still make the buying decisions. Double kudos for getting this approved by Nickelodeon: they should have sold tickets to that presentation.

By rsw April 8th, 2009 07:38:33 pm

First, it's funny. And totally on brand. You don't necessarily have to know the original or who Sir-Mix-a-Lot is to appreciate it. But if you do it works on another level. In fact, it wouldn't have worked as well -- if at all -- if they didn't get Mix-a-Lot for it. I have three kids, and no I don't feel the original -- and certainly not the parody -- are too sexually explicit. Everyone has a butt. Butts can be funny, and square butts even funnier. If you don't get that, you need to pull the stick out of yours. The humor is right in line with the cartoon -- it's often silly and juvenile. And don't assume younger kids don't know the original. My kids do. A lot of kids do. That song has never really gone away. Which is why I expect to hear kids singing this cover version for a while.

By kdanieli April 9th, 2009 08:37:01 am

Definitely cuts through the clutter and makes me take notice. I wonder if it'll create any backlash for its focus on butts in a kids' meal spot....presumably most kids meals are for 4-9-year-olds, not teens. Could be a clever way to get free airings on evening news shows across middle America. I'd have a clever PR response in the bag featuring the King.

Overall, very fun concept and execution, with several key weaknesses.

Issues with the execution: at least when viewing this online,

1) Deliver the concept earlier: The concept of square butts is not visually delivered clearly in the first 10 seconds. On the 3 backup dancers with brown shorts on it's not so easy to see that they have square butts unless you look closely. It all happens too fast and should be more visually vivid right away. The first time we see the red dress it's much more vividly visual that it's a square butt. The brown does not cast the right shadows.


2) Clarify the offer: The first time he sings "99 cents" it's very garbled and does not come across. (sounds more like "59 cents" and garbled). The 99 cents should be more clearly sung and reinforced with a 99 cents graphic on screen the first time. It's a promo ad and the promo message needs to come through. Why don't we clearly see a sample of the toy? We're selling a meal with toy...the animated crab and starfish may be the toys, but they just come across as animations to me.


3) Punch up the laugh line: Celeb Cameo "Booty is booty", as executed, is a waste and just not for kids, and not all that funny for adults...too quietly delivered amongst all the mayhem. If the line were sold more, it might be a laugh in a super bowl party (beer drinking) viewing environment.

Ken Danieli
Danieli Consulting, LLC
http://kdanieli.com

By macboy April 9th, 2009 09:11:24 am

enough with the creepy guy in the king mask already!

By Wrecker April 9th, 2009 11:00:07 am

Unbelievably inappropriate on all accounts! Trash!

By belefant April 9th, 2009 01:14:06 pm

The genius of this spot is in its careful targeting to two separate audiences.

The product is a kids meal, which is meant for what? Children between four and twelve? These kids weren't even born when the original song came out, or when videos like the one this spot lampoons were at the height of popularity on MTV. They're also pre-pubescent, which means sexually suggestive content is meaningless--or the equivalent of scatological--to them.

All they need to get is that the Burger King likes square butts.

Of course, it's the parents that pony up the money for the kids meal, and a parent with a kid between four and twelve is likely to have been listening to the original version of the song this commercial remixes. Sixteen years ago, when the original song came out, they worried all the time about getting laid and not about all the calories in a fast food burger. Talk about a nostalgia play.

The risk, of course, is that parents tend to get twitchy about the very things they embraced enthusiastically once they realize that their kids are likely to enjoy them, too. So we'll have to see whether CP B managed to walk that line, making a spot that references sex without actually triggering righteous indignation.

Brian Belefant
brian@belefant.com
www.belefant.com
503 715 2852

By bec123 April 11th, 2009 10:24:36 am

A particularly annoying and inappropriate rap ad. Probably will be enjoyed in certain markets NOT associated with children. Sorry we'll stick to Happy Meals. My kids are freeked out by the wierd Burger King anyway and this does nothing to change that. Please save me from having to watch this every twenty minutes for the next three months.

By rrrandr April 13th, 2009 04:02:26 am

Brilliant. I can't think of a single flaw oh wait, showing Sir Mix-a-Lot in the end. That was not cool. Brilliant otherwise.

By ghostlab April 14th, 2009 11:42:41 am

I love The King but unfortunately, just like Padma, this reeks of being overtly displaced.

By marjoriedunn April 15th, 2009 11:08:07 am

creepy, weird and annoying...even the kids don't like it. one big yuck :-(

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