Burger King uses photos of cars crashing into Burger Kings to push its delivery service
Ripped from the headlines.
Burger King’s new ad campaign uses real photos of real cars crashed into real Burger Kings to promote BK’s partnership with the delivery service, DoorDash.
“don’t drive hungry. leave it to the experts and get it delivered through @DoorDash,” the burger chain implores in one tweet. “Order today with $0 delivery fee on orders $15+. safety first.”
According to Us Weekly, the photo that Burger King tweeted on Nov. 1 showed a car that smashed into one of its Alabama locations in July 2017.
“Though the home of the Whopper didn’t come out and say it directly, BK is clearly using car crashes as a way to promote its delivery option by intimating accidents can be avoided if food is brought to you instead of picked up from the restaurant,” wrote Us Weekly.
The burger chain told Adweek that no one was seriously injured in any of the crashes shown.
“Store front car crashes are more common than one might think, with a recent uptick in incidents due to more distracted drivers,” the company told the advertising magazine.
BK didn’t have any data about the number of said car crashes, Adweek reported.
In a press release, the chain blamed the crashes on distracted driving.
“Smartphones are the most likely culprit, but what about Whopper sandwich cravings?” said the statement, reported by Muse by Clio advertising news website.
“You gotta wonder when the internet is full of pictures of drivers crashing into Burger King restaurants and over 400,000,000 Whopper sandwiches were sold in the U.S. last year alone.”
The campaign, says Muse, has the same flavor as the fast food chain’s “Burning Stores” print ad campaign last year “which featured real fires at the chain’s locations alongside a simple message: ‘Flame grilled since 1954.’”
Reaction on social media has been mixed. Some people played along by tweeting more car-meets-building photos.
Some people joked about who was behind the wheel in the crashes. Was he wearing a crown?
Other people laughed their buns off.
“Reactions on Twitter range from hysterical to appreciative, which is uncommon in this day and age when virtually anything has the potential of becoming controversial,” wrote the Automotive Test Drivers website.
“The bottom line is that the Internet seems to love Burger King’s sense of humor, even if it means capitalizing on some people’s misfortune. The only negative reactions are from those not in the Door Dash delivery areas, and that speaks volumes for the effectiveness of the campaign.”
DoorDash has forged delivery relationships with thousands of restaurants nationwide, including big chains like Burger King and Taco Bell, and small local restaurants, according to its website.