Burger King is pushing the pedal hard in its war with McDonald’s by serving a free Whopper to any fans who visit their outlet dressed up as a scary clown. In recent times, McDonald’s has faced an unforeseen image issue fuelled by the evil clown that we saw in the big horror blockbuster It. Good old Ronald McDonald became an unwitting victim of this nasty clown. In fact, McDonald has been forced to reduce Ronald’s role in most of the new promotional materials since fans have become obsessed with scary clowns and now Burger King is trolling them in a big way with the latest advertisement.
Burger King announced on its YouTube page that the first 500 fans who dress as clowns and visit the participating locations (restaurants in Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Austin, Boston, Salt Lake City, etc.) before 7 pm would get free Whoppers. They are calling the event as their first annual “Scary Clown Night.” They have made a really frightening promotional video for the event, in fact, it is almost as scary as their food. It shows a child riding a bike at night, and then a clown in a yellow and red dress sneaks up from behind riding a tiny bike. There is a tagline “Come as a clown, eat like a king.” This is the best burn that McDonald has got in a long time.
This is not the first time that Burger King went hunting McDonald’s. Earlier in October, Burger King bought a screening of IT and posted the phrase “The moral is: never trust a clown,” just before the end credits. While this was a subtle take on McDonald’s, the latest ad is a full-on attack which clears that they are after Ronald McDonald and his brand. McDonald has not come back with a response yet.
Despite it being obvious, Burger King says that it just happens to be a lucky coincidence for them since the scary clown costume is the 3rd most popular Halloween ensemble this year. While Burger King has apparently done a good marketing research, it is obviously not just a coincidence. We must also point out here that Burger King also has an extremely scary mascot and in case McDonald’s decided to fire back, they don’t lack in ammunition.
This is certainly a great improvement from the time that Burger King “dressed up” as McDonald’s ghost and it might prove to be among all-time greatest marketing trolls. “We don’t usually talk about clowns,” Alex Macedo, President, Burger King, North America stated taking another thinly disguised take at his rival brand. “But for this Halloween, come dressed as a clown to eat like a king.” You can watch the “Scary Clown Night” promotional video below, thanks to the Burger King YouTube account.
