Burger King ads: McDonald’s execs like to grill, too
Burger King is getting personal in its direct assaults on McDonald’s.
It is smoking out its burger foe with a new print advertising campaign that literally goes into its archrival’s backyard.
The series of ads features what Burger King says are patios of former homes of one-time McDonald’s executives in order to show they had grills.
The message: Burger King’s patties are better than McDonald’s because they are grilled over open flames instead of fried.
“BK has always been about flame-grilling since 1954, and we know that 75% of people prefer burgers cooked with fire,” the company said in an email, explaining the ads. “That’s why this time, we decided to show it in a relevant way.”
McDonald’s didn’t respond to a request for comment about the campaign Burger King calls “McMansions.”
The palatial homes are the former residences of a retired McDonald’s president, a retired McDonald’s director and a retired McDonald’s chief operating officer, Burger King said. “It’s funny, because it’s true,” the chain said in a statement.
The ads start running Wednesday in the Daily News in New York, the Sun-Times in Chicago —McDonald’s hometown — and a few select newspapers around the country.
Burger King declined to say how it chose the cities. There is no social media component to the campaign.
This is Burger King’s most recent, and most per- sonal, swipe at McDonald’s. In January, the chain rolled out the Double Quarter Pound King Sandwich, which will compete with the McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder. And in October, it trolled McDonald’s in a Halloween ad that re-imagined Ronald McDonald as a scary clown, à la Pennywise from the movie It.
McDonald’s recently has also taken heat from Wendy’s, which likes to make fun of the fact that the larger chain uses frozen beef in many of its burgers.
Burger King didn’t comment on whether the grills in the photos belong to the current homeowners.
Burger King is owned by Restaurant Brands International of Oakville, Ontario, which also owns Tim Hortons and Popeyes.