Weeping, wailing virgins
Just before returning to live in Romania again for a spell, I engaged in a rare activity: watching television.
It’s an uncommon pastime for me, as I tend to relegate habitual TV to the mindless. I don’t even own one of those infernal contraptions. Nonetheless, on this particular occasion, I managed to find myself in front of the idiot box when something very creative grabbed my full attention.
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What a clever advertisement.
The rich visual treatment was in National Geographic documentary style: exotic locations, ethnic garb, facial diversity. The audio track using a live orchestra to set a mysterious mood, introduce excitement by drum beat, and build a miniature epic crescendo. Well-cast voice over with a compelling script presenting the intriguing proposition.
If a person had never heard of Brand X or Brand Y, both of whom competed in manufacturing Product Z, nor had that person ever heard of seen that product before in their lives was asked to compare the primary products of the two brands, which product would they prefer?
This new Whopper Virgins campaign is an innovative evolution on a long tradition of direct comparative advertisements.
Last century, the boob tube brought The Pepsi Challenge to the world. The golden age of radio brought hilarious shows like The Bickersons, sponsored by the Philip Morris Nose Test. In 1930, Sears ran one of the earliest known comparative ads in print, touting their tires over specific competitors.
Burger King is adding their name to the history of advertising with Whopper Virgins by doing what’s not been seen before. Instead of trying to convince people to make a choice between products they know, the company makes a greater effort to actually seek out people who have never experienced, seen, heard of the brand, the product, or category. Total virgins.
The carefully-crafted aura of scientific explorers at the remote edges of rural humanity seeks to frame the advertised results as being untouched by influences, natural and pure. Hence, we’re to believe that all things being equal, people love the taste of the Whopper over McDonald’s Big Mac.
It’s not hard to believe. Mickey D’s slaps a minuscule disc of meat into a fryer. Yech! If nothing else, Burger King grills their bigger portion of ground beef over an actual flame to impart a little smokey char flavor while allow the fat to drip out. Whether you’re a burger fan or not, the difference should be clear.
But what Burger King attempts to say is that product knowledge and brand attachment are meaningless for taste. It’s an interesting pitch.
While it’s likely that the full, actual results probably do show most tested persons did indicate a preference for the Whopper, it’s also probable that we’ll never the finite details tabulating exactly how much of a difference there was. For example, it’s entirely possible that 40% chose Burger King, 35% chose McDonald’s, and 25% did not register any distinction.
One might go so far as to speculate the country folks were being polite in selecting the least worst food.
The masterful stroke of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the creative agency behind the campaign, was to go the extra mile in filming a pseudo-documentary with “behind the scenes” action showing some character development, tactical planning, and a non-scientific cultural exchange of gastronomical diplomacy.
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What’s the impact?
You feel like you’re watching trustworthy people conduct a fair test. You see rural farmers dressed in traditional clothing mystified by first sight of a product we’ve been conditioned to believe common.
You come to agree the unbiased results heavily indicate the Whopper is the decisive favorite. You feel good watching the epicurean ambassadors of America go off the beaten path to share one of our treasures with folks who’ve never had the opportunity.
And so you don’t feel they’re elitist, the film closes with the American team enamored with eating delicious food they‘ve never seen before made by the villagers.
A superbly executed comparative advertising campaign.
But that never stops hack writers from click whoring with made-up instacontroversies to stir up a bees nest over whether the ads are “exploiting indigenous people” as though the very phrasing had any relevant meaning whatsoever in this context.
These types of cranky nutjobs actually compare this to putting a gun to the head of starving people, a notion which would indicate the pundits are completely and utterly batshit insane. The drivel and nonsense spewing forth from their acidic reactionary tongues shows they’ve never been to the places shown or talked with the rural people shown.
All the people in the video work hard, love their lives, have plenty of food, and enjoyed the experience unlikely to come again in many of their lives. It seems clear to me some of the bizarre commentators haven’t ever visited the Hmong or been around farmers in Maramureş.
The thing is, my friends, is I generally expect overreaction by fringe elements out-of-touch with reality, usually because they care too much about rescuing others to bother getting their information right about the situation they cavalierly thrust themselves in the midst of.
What I’m not quite accustomed to yet is Romanian reaction.
It’s not that I’ve never seen chest-thumping national pride cause uneducated Romanian youths to lose all perspective over a joke before. Just you try approaching a sports bar in cartierul Astra la Braşov while wearing a Hungarian football jersey, waving a Turkish flag, proclaiming sarmale sucks, and gesturing provocatively in the crotchular vicinity, while urinating on a Dacia 1310.
But the supposedly educated marketing and advertising bloggers? Lemme tell ya, these guys are out to lunch.
Take, for example, the hysterical insecure bleating of the hoi polloi with an inferiority complex pretending to be business professionals over at Marketeer.ro — which I noticed happens to use a nationalist green as its dominant color much like Noua Dreapta, Partidul Pentru Patrie, and Partidul Noua Generaţie (PNG-CD), though I’m sure it’s merely ill-advised coincidence.
These kids are totally out of sorts, jumping up and down like someone just called their favorite dollie ugly.
The original poster, Doru Panaitescu, starts off by stepping firmly in a big, steaming pile of cacat with a seething claim the video was shot in a Calaraşi village with a disproportionately high percentage of Roma inhabitants. Grabbing factoids from thin air, the racist implication clearly being that the hated ţigani are in some way to blame for inferred degradation of the mighty and honorable Romanian pride.
Hogwash!
Of course, he’s later corrected by the simple fact that the Whopper Virgins video featured “Transylvanian farmers” from Maramureş, just as Burger King truthfully stated all along. Sorry, Vadim Tudor, there was no grand conspiracy to inflect harm on overly nationalistic Romanian youth. No secret filming locations to undermine national confidence. No need to get one’s patriotic BVDs all in a twisted bunch.
The piece at Marketeer continues with efforts to bolster the self-importance of Romania, while dismissing Thailand as nothing more than a jungle and Greenland as some kind of ice cube. The author goes out of his way to belittle the other countries by somehow insulting their natural terrain, although CP+B and BK never made any such innuendo.
I love Romania but let’s get real, people.
In the commercial, the specific countries were essentially irrelevant to the point they tried to make, so much so that Romania is not even verbally mentioned, whereas the insecure writer at Marketeer somehow feels the need to awkwardly claim Romania is superior because it has… history. Does he mean to say Thailand and Greenland do not have history?
The blog spouts more drivel about the village with apparently too many ethnic minorities, even though it’s irrelevant. Then, there’s brief, non-academic generalities about fast food. And then half-hearted, mealy-mouthed, suggested about a possible protest demonstration, as if that will do anything other than point out the absurdity of participants.
It’s nearly laughable, really, except there’s a small bundle of like-minded folks egging each other on in the comments with inflamed reactions such as labeling this advertising as “cultural rape” and a few raised fists shouting for some kind of boycott initiative.
If these people represented the future of business professionalism, then Romania would be a joke.
One typical comment, from Misha, expressed disdain that mighty and glorious Romania be included in an American television commercial that also showed Thailand and Greenland. She’s upset about jungles and glaciers, you see. Her only conclusion is that since she is from Transylvania and does not recognize a Transylvanian accent in the video, therefore Americans suck.
That’s teachin’ em, Einstein.
Someone else thinks “we” should buy Burger King an atlas. It’s a little hard to grasp the deep intellectualism of this proposal, but I gather the idea is to show BK a map so they can learn where Romania is… even though they were obviously already here.
And then you have silly ideas like threatening to send emails to Burger King with a link to the “World Without Romania” beer commercial on YouTube, as if the corporate executives watching video on their iPhones will be driven to tears and buy lots of Ursus afterward.
No matter that the video was clearly produced only to create brand loyalty among Romanian nationalists in the first place, by appealing to insecure desires for recognition and exploiting a sense of lacking self-identity. The rest of world outside of Romania basically never saw it.
Why do these people decide to feel insulted? You’d have to make a very strong effort to feel slighted by the commercial.
Don’t worry, children, you can always get together with your angsty teen friends to make a video response. But it’s your own fault if you ultimately end up taking a really funny concept and creating it in a way that pretty much sucks.
Since that didn’t work out too well, if you promise to stop crying and sniffling then I’ll let you make fun of rural cowboys in Texas. That’s sure to perk you right up and make you feel you “got even” with someone. Although I do hope won’t mind when I laugh right along with you. Afterall, there’s nothing for a mature person to feel insulted over.
Quit your hypersensitive bitching and bellyaching. If you’d shut your pie hole long enough to catch your breath and stop hyperventilating, you might remember that none of this is about you. Or about Romania. It’s only a televsion ad. Aimed at American audiences. About selecting a hamburger. And making that choice because some people living in far away rural places who have no idea what a burger is might choose the same burger the advertiser wants you to buy.
I suppose there will come a time when perhaps a few of those people will realize how silly their reaction was. Hopefully those poor fools will change their perspective and come around to a more nuanced understanding of life around them and their place in the universe.
Anyone can say something stupid when they don’t think about issues before speaking. A great many people have done so. Just not me.
In the broader picture, I tend to see wisdom in some of the comments posted to an advertising blog I read, where the more enlightened thoughts were about how overly defensive reactions of the few can mar what is ultimately a creative way of showing those differences that makes us all the same.
January 17th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Notice how Doru Panaitescu retracted large swaths of his post after being called on it by commenters. This is sooo typical around here. :( Make some sweeping, unconsidered claims, insulting anyone who has a shred of intelligence, then act surprised when they start piling argument after argument onto your puny mind. It has to do with the fact that Romanians are mystically inclined and spiteful of science and reason, and self-conscious to boot (*points to self*).
Also notice how the New York Daily News article is neither rambling, nor hysterical. I could almost forgive them for being facetious. (Hint: nobody truly wants to eradicate world hunger. Ever heard of Golden Rice? Not to mention this has nothing to do with the commercial.)
January 17th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
@Romerican
You’re wasting your time.
@Felix Pleșoianu
“It has to do with the fact that Romanians are mystically inclined and spiteful of science and reason, and self-conscious to boot (*points to self*).”
Oh, please. What do you think is more ridiculous, the “We rule” gang or the “We suck” team?
January 17th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
@Ubu At least the “we suck” attitude might prompt a few people to try and improve themselves, which is really the best one can hope for.
January 18th, 2009 at 12:41 am
This might be adding gas to the fire, but is there a better way to deal with insecurities at a national scale than ridicule (hmm ? ) :
http://www.hulu.com/watch/53099/saturday-night-live-whopper-virgins
January 18th, 2009 at 1:14 am
It is funny to see how people sometimes struggle to see beyond the meanings of things more than there is to see. Now I know that meaning exists on the measure it is given, but some things just have a common sense delimitations that encircle all the possible interpretations in a certain map.
When it comes to Romanians, this type of out-the-map interpretations is connected to the “Fuck you, we’re the best” principle. There is a national pride, and when someone from outside mentions anything that does not involve “sarmale are great” (even if they are not only a Romanian dish), “Dracula is cool” (the guy that made it up was not even Romanian, it is not even our merit), “Romanians are hospitable and nice people,” Romanians feel offended,and begin to jump up and down and bark at your foot in a frenzied anger, and argument how they are perfect compared to the ones that have offended them so badly. Not all of them, but some. Especially when some are called whopper virgins or get fooled to be part of Ali G’s show. Oh, pardon me, those people were gypsies, no one should be offended.
But sometimes things are just going one direction and it is easy not to slip in different side interpretations. Like this here example. It is just an ad, nothing else. Might have been Bulgaria, might have been people from the Andes. The point was simple, people who do not know about any of the sandwiches and can compare with no bias, no previous experience, think whopper is better. They are not denigrating Romanians, they sell.
January 18th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Oh, yes, Romerican, stop wasting your time! Can’t you see people are badly hurt from being called whopper virgins? Why don’t you do something useful, like a protest?! You will be wasting your time less!
January 18th, 2009 at 6:51 am
@Felix Pleșoianu
Well, you could say the same thing about the “We rule” team, isn’t it?
January 18th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
@Ubu Actually, “we rule” usually goes together with “so we don’t need to improve”. Even if only on a subconscious level.
January 19th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Short durations of tv are best, yes? Once in a while something of interest comes through. Like the US Super Bowl ads. The rest is an exercise in mindless non-exercise. (btw, go Steelers) heh
January 19th, 2009 at 7:59 am
@Felix Pleșoianu
Oh, so you mean that those in the “We suck” team actually rule, and those in the “We rule” gang actually suck?
January 19th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
@Ubu No, I’m saying both teams suck, but one of them knows it and is trying to improve, while the other doesn’t. Both very human attitudes, if you ask me.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Without a bit of doubt…Romanians as a whole have the least amount of national pride of ANY country I have had the pleasure to visit. The general defeatest attitude(I presume left behind by the shadow of communism and handed down from generations past) that MOST Romanians posess is most clearly marked by statements such as “this is Romania … things will never change” or “only in Romania” or just take a walk or ride ANYWHERE and count the plastic bottles and assorted piles of garbage that are strewn about the countriside!!! That should show how proud of the country Romanians really are…shitting all over it!!!
When Romanians are in a tizzy about an ad that just might make people look at their country as an interesting cultural oasis in a sea of modern progress and change…it is utter hipocracy at it’s most disgusting and uneducated level!!! Those doing the whining should be proud BK chose here instead of one of the other thousands of countries it could have put in the spotlight.
Sucking or Ruling…however you may think..why not just try and shut up, get off your lazy ass and do something that might benefit the land you are leaving to your children….! like voting for better leaders to start with…!
My Romanian wife and I watched these commercials in the US. and actually thought them to be creative and original in a way as to actually influence people in a positive manner(there’s a lesson to learn here)…all be it into eating junk food(which I would never condone). She wasn’t offended…as a matter of fact the only thing that really offends her is seeing how things are when we come to visit. How Romanians treat their fellow countrymen. Bribing, stealing and swindling at every opportunity. Trash everywhere you look…now I know most of those who posees the ability to read this aren’t the ones doing the dumping…BUT what are YOU doing to STOP it? Hmmm? Just as I thought…ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Just keep the Preists fat and happy building church after church and all this shit will disappear when you die and go to heaven…right?
ps: Thanks Romerican for getting me all fired up! Time to go to the cellar and fetch a new bottle of vin de casa…!
January 26th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Oh, Ron with a Romanian wife, please show us the way. Of course we are proud Burger King has chosen wretched us from thousands (!) of other countries. In fact, we are seriously considering declaring a national holiday on the day Burger King choose us. We already thank the lord every day for it, along with out fat and happy priests, in our brand new church we build right behind this other church, less new, built right on top of a very old medievalish [sic] church. And please, for the love of god and all that is holy, stop dragging your poor wife back to the place from where she barely escaped by marrying you, because you know she gets offended by us, poor Neanderthals and our trashy ways, by our fat and happy priests, not to mention our bribing, stealing and swindling like crazy.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
your sarcasm has underlying glimpses of nothing but the truth…and actually i like it here…and hope to move here one day..this doesn’t lessen the substantiality of the things I mentioned in the previous post…don’t be so small minded as to only see black and white in the text in front of you.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:41 am
Brainstorming session at the Crispin Porter + Bogusky HQ:
Mark, client service executive: Listen up, people. Our client, Burger King Corp., asked us to create an innovative campaign for their Whoppers, a campaign that should reflect the multicultural, multiracial background of its customer base in a positive, respectful, inclusive way and communicate the notion that the Whopper is everyone’s burger of choice, regardless of brand awareness or customer loyalty.
Chuck, copywriter: How about a comparison between the Whopper and the Big Mac? You know, something like Pepsi did back in the ’90s, with the chimps that go bananas after having drunk a glass of Pepsi versus the Coca-Cola chimps that minimally improved their performance.
Mark: Not bad, Chuck, but it’s been done before, so how could we knock it up a notch?
Chuck: Well, we could use people instead of chimps, you know, not real people like you and me, but an intermediary species between the chimps and us, like tribesmen from Africa or something, who are on a different level on the evolution ladder and have never watched TV, seen a commercial or tasted a Whopper. We could call them Whopper Virgins or something along these lines.
Mark: That’s a brilliant idea, Chuck. The only problem is that we cannot use Africans because the family of the current U.S. President is from Africa and we don’t want people to think we’re endorsing the Republican Party. Besides, the Burger King’s target customers are precisely the low-income groups, who are mostly black or Latino, like the Burger King employees for that matter, so we’d better not stir up racial controversies.
Chuck: Then Asians – Chinks, Pakis…
Mark: C’mon guys, the average American uses computers and other consumer electronics made in China and India, so the idea that people in these countries have never seen a fast-food commercial or eaten a burger is just ludicrous. Moreover, if Burger King ever decides to air this commercial in Britain, the portrayal of Indians as backward twats might remind the viewers of the British colonial legacy and we want to avoid any negative overtones.
Chuck: Maybe Arabs, wandering in the desert on camels in search of a drop of water and a Whopper?
Mark: We don’t want our enemies to think we’re fighting the War on Terror with burgers, Chuck. We’re not looking for Whoppers of Mass Destruction here.
Chuck: Man, if we’re so afraid that somebody might get offended, then who else can we show in this damn commercial? Eskimos?
Mark: Now we’re talking. But we should make clear these Eskimos are not from Canada, because we don’t want to call our neighbours “backward”. They’re the only neighbours we’ve got. Except for the Mexicans. OK, so we’ve got Eskimos from… Greenland! Who else?
Stacey, art director: May I suggest we use demographics that are not easily identifiable with the North-American public?
Mark: Such as…?
Stacey: Jungle natives from Thailand, for instance. Thailand has never been a colony, so we cannot be accused of imperialism or colonial nostalgia. Plus, many Americans visit the country for its unspoiled landscapes and virgin beaches, so Thailand already has this image of a place untouched by the comforts of modern civilization.
Mark: Great, we have Eskimos and Thais. Now we need some whites to avoid accusations of racial profiling. Preferably from Europe, but not French because Burger King sells French fries with the Whopper, nor Italians because they’ve got pizza… Some really backward Europeans…
Chuck: Yeah, like, from Transylvania or something, the land of Dracula and vampires every American has heard of… instant recognition of backwardness without any effort on our part…
Mark: Is Transylvania actually a country? That would be perfect for our campaign. I think we just found our Whopper Virgins, the noble savages who come in contact with the modern civilization, like in Kipling’s novels. That’s deep, man. We’re making advertising history at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Now pack this up in a politically correct babble about embracing diversity, multiculturalism, culinary traditions, etc. and let’s sell those Whoppers.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:16 am
IS this an actual conversation or just an assumption…if actual, where did you get access to this?