The Burger King Wakes Up Beside You

2003

Date: October 2003 · Place: Burger King US TV campaign, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami · Figures: Crispin Porter + Bogusky, agency · MJZ, production · Burger King, client · Tags: Advertising, Uncanny 01. The Plastic-Headed King in Your Bed Crispin Porter + Bogusky reboots Burger King's mascot in October 2003 as a man in a plastic king mask with a fixed grin. The first spot, Wake-Up, opens with a sleeping office worker rolling over to find the King silently lying next to him in bed, holding a breakfast sandwich. There is no jingle, no slogan. The King says nothing. He just hands you a sandwich. Then he is in your gym, your shower, your office cubicle. 02. The Mascot Becomes a Photoshop Within months SA, YTMND, and proto-/b/ are Photoshopping the King into horror movie stills, classical paintings, family photographs. The mask travels because it is already a meme template: a single rigid expression on a human body in any context. The Burger King is the first major brand mascot whose 2000s revival is calibrated to be screenshotted, not to be liked. He predicts the IHOP/IHOb gambit, the Wendy's Twitter pivot, the Duolingo owl, every uncanny-corporate-mascot-as-content move of the next twenty years. Sources • Adweek, 'CP+B reboots Burger King' (October 2003) • Crispin Porter + Bogusky case study, The King • KnowYourMeme, The Burger King