ChiTrib Hits Burger King for 'Ugly Americanism'

Photo of Ken Shepherd.
  • Bookmark and Share

Burger King is an Ugly American corporate villain that has raped the "pristine digestive systems" of so-called Whopper Virgins the world over.

Sounds like an Onion article, right? Try the Chicago Tribune:

Burger King's "Whopper Virgins" ad campaign is the company's latest salvo in its long food fight with rival McDonald's.

But it appears to have missed the mark.

Critics have heaped a super-size helping of scorn on the ads, suggesting it smacks of "corporate colonialism," "cultural bullying" and the worst kind of Ugly Americanism.

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

[...]

But the Whopper project has left a bad taste in the mouths of many who have seen it.

"While [Burger King] spent millions of dollars happily tracking down people with no 'hamburger awareness' the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has to go begging because they can only get one-thirtieth of the money they need to rebuild the developing world's shattered food systems," said Food First, an advocacy group that fights hunger.

Barbara Lippert, a columnist for Adweek, called the ads "culturally tone-deaf."

Reporter Tom Hundley allowed Burger King a brief response, quoting from a corporate press release. Hundley could have gone to any number of Chicago-area Burger Kings to ask Whopper aficionados for their take on the controversy and may well have found a lot of them rolling their eyes at the whiney liberal complaints about the ad campaign.

Instead Hundley chose to close his article by hinting that he too thought the fast food company's fare was a culinary scourge to the planet:

We are told that the burger virgins preferred—surprise, surprise—Whoppers to Big Macs, but we are only left to wonder how American-style junk food, laden with hormones, steroids and saturated fats, was received by their pristine digestive systems.

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

"Critics have heaped a

"Critics have heaped a super-size helping of scorn on the ads, suggesting it smacks of "corporate colonialism," "cultural bullying" and the worst kind of Ugly Americanism"

Gee, this language doesn't sound liberal elitist or anything, does it? It really sounds like the man on the street talking...

→ Whopper Virgins

I think this video may be available at the local Adult Movie Rental store.

  • LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

How dumb can they be?

"we are only left to wonder how American-style junk food, laden with
hormones, steroids and saturated fats, was received by their pristine
digestive systems.
"

How dumb can they be?  there is NOTHING in a Whopper that is unknown to the people who ate them. It's just the Whopper itself, that great tasting sandwich, which was new to them.  The ingredients of a Whopper, (veggies, beef , grains, and the like) have been eaten by billions and billions of people worldwide for centuries!  This includes all the FAT which accompanies the burger, even thought the beef used in a Whopper is a hell of a lot leaner than the beef most people eat in other countries.

Obama: My job is above my pay grade

Pristing digestive systems

For a while, my in-laws were working at a hospital in Honduras.  Since the people there would use cows to pull loads, the beef was so lean that if you wanted burgers, you'd have to buy lard and mix it in with the ground beef.  Despite all the fruits and veggies Hondurans eat, they have high rates of heart disease because of all the lard they use for cooking and frying.

Viva El Whopper!

(La Whopper?  Not sure what gender a burger is, or if 'whopper' has a different gender than a burger does.)

 

Sarah Palin/Jason Lewis 2012

Obama, pathological nacissist: http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html

Well that's refreshing.

It's so much more important to cover the preceived "corporate colonialism" of Burger King than to cover the importation of poison food from China or the fact that they just yesterday banned lye and borric acid as food additives. Yeah, the damned ugly american companies are ruining the digestive pureness of the rest of the world.

Hey, I got the wrong "CHANGE"!

Alan Keyes / Sarah Palin - 2012

The difference between BK and UN

Burger King makes noney - United Nations consumes money.

However, I believe Burger King uses kangaroo meat. After eating a whopper you can sometimes feel it jumping around in your stomach.

LOL coco.... That was a

LOL coco....

That was a whopper of a joke...

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Whopper beats the BigMac

Whopper beats the BigMac anyday.  Especially the double-whopper with cheese and bacon.  Anyway, I say all Fortune 500+ corporations stop advertising their products in these communist rags called newspaper.  If they can all agree not to advertise in certain rags then maybe we can bring some unbiased reporting back.  I am tired of these whiney liberals biting the hand that pays their salary.

As for third world countries and their hunger problem, maybe these countries should do something about procreating beyond sustenance.  If they are Catholic countries that have been pursuaded by the Catholic church to procreate at mass levels then maybe they can get some money from the Catholic Church?

The UN had best keep its hands off my Whopper...

...lest they lose a finger.  :-)

-Dave

Will work for beer.

pristine digestive systems?

People out there are eating raw fish, duck blood soup, and black pudding, and they have pristine digestive systems - but a greasy cheeseburger is the death of proper cuisine?

I think I'll go to Burger King tomorrow just for the sake of supporting them. 

 

I'm a typical white person.

Beat ya to it. I had just

Beat ya to it. I had just eaten a delicious couple of Whopper Juniors when this post appeared. You can't beat 'em for value. Take that, you liberal food elitists! You'll have to rip my Whopper from my cold, dead, and mustard/ketchup spotted hands... :)

Hey all of you re making me

Hey all of you re making me very hungry for a Big Mac or a Whopper...

I do not live anywhere close to either!

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

So now

So now they're going to tell us what food we should eat???

Pardon me, Mr. Dictator, may I eat this peanut?

 

 

"If we conservatives moved to those seven non-existent States, the government couldn’t find us and tax us to death!" 

Nope. Some people are very

Nope. Some people are very allergic to peanuts. Keep tryin'...

Aw bt, you can just whip

Aw bt, you can just whip up a delicious elk burger or something, can't you? Now, that'd be good eats - no drive thru though, I'd imagine. :)

LOL Chris... Yeah we just

LOL Chris...

Yeah we just made a bunch of venison burger...the best yet too...and I made some smoked jerky too, which is already gone.

But still...I do like to eat out once in awhile, have someone else cook for me, and I love a Big Mac, Wendy's or a Whopper et al as much as the rest of the country...it's a rarity for me to-boot.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

bt, that all sounds good to me.

bt, that all sounds good to me. However, thanks for reminding me that when it comes to nearby fast food options, I am truly blessed. :)

cd darlin,' since you are already going to BK....

Wouldja please get me a Double Whopper with cheese, tomato, onions, mayo, mustard, and extra pickles?

LOL-Just remember to get the fries from the Micky D's across the street. Oh, and I'll be needing about ten of those nifty little ketchup packages, too.  :-)

-Dave

Will work for beer.

Hundley, the Ugly American,

Hundley, the Ugly American, working for a colonial corporation, can go right ahead and eat his plate of mashed yeast, sunflower seeds, alfalfa sprouts, and Smart Water.

I'm going to enjoy Whoppers, Big Macs, Wendy's, Crabby Patties, and all the other sugar/fat/hormone ladened foods I choose...and I will still outlive him.

Liberal: a power worshipper without power. George Orwell

Whopper Virgins

>>tongue in cheek<<

Could this be a subtle take on the virgins promised to the followers of Islam???

thanks, but no thanks

To me, "accommodating" 72 virgins has always sounded more like a sentence than a reward.

And why is a Whopper 'junk

And why is a Whopper 'junk food'?   Because the food snobs don't want to get anywhere near something associated with the 'working class'.    But hey... I've seen some of that over-chefed stuff the elites eat.  Take the same basic ingredients of a Whopper give them the chef touch and arrange on a fancy plate so that it looks like a little sculpture and voila! you got some high class fixin's.

Pristine digestive

Pristine digestive systems?  I doubt poor people in the far corners of the world are eating an organic macrobiotic diet (as elitests would suggest).  Likely they eat whatever they can to prevent starvation.

Spiff,Typical liberal

Spiff,

Typical liberal elitists - "noble-izing" any practices and conditions of poor natives - even starvation. It's just another symptom of self-loathing and would be funny if they didn't set public policy.

pristine digestive systems?

obviously none of these people has ever watched Bizarre Foods on the Food network.  (edit : Tonight's Feature : Monaco - Lardo aka.  'meat butter')

"part of what I'm hoping to introduce as the next president is a new ethic of [government enforced] responsibility" - B. Obama

"but we are only left to

"but we are only left to wonder how American-style junk food, laden with
hormones, steroids and saturated fats, was received by their pristine
digestive systems."

The results appear daily in the content of the Chicago Tribune.

Hey, Zell!  Watching your

Hey, Zell!  Watching your investment go down the "trib" line by pungent, as in stinking dung, line . . .

By the way, there is no shortage of food on our planet just murdering thug dictators in over a hundred nations that divert food destined for their people in all manner of ways for their gain.  But, you won't here that from the "trib" or the entire drive by media for that matter.  They to busy taking on a campany that makes hambugers.  

→ jdhawk

Don't forget greedy politicians who divert food into gas tanks at an economic loss.

People are starving somewhere because using "Ethanol says something about me"

  • LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

Suddenly, fast food is good for you!

All these fast food restaurants will become media darlings once the democrats force them to unionize.

Whopper Virgins

In the immortal words of Rob Bass: "I like the Whopper, f**k the Big Mac".

How many Whopper Virgins Will

be waiting in heaven for the Islamo terrorist murderers when they get there. I know theirs will be flame broiled in the heaven they are going to.

News Flash!!!

CHICAGO - A colony of Triffids was found nesting deep in the bowels of the Tribune building.  This invasion seems to have occurred over the last 5 years.  All of the employees working for the newspaper had their brains eaten and the remaining bodies were infested with some kind of Leftist tripe.

I am sure that the Inuit

I am sure that the Inuit indian liked those burgers much better than the whale blubber that they had the night before.

we are only left to wonder

we are only left to wonder how American-style junk food, laden with hormones, steroids and saturated fats, was received by their pristine digestive systems I know how mmm for the first in their lifes they were full.

good point, smoto66

Normally, they'd have to eat a hundred crickets or a dozen scorpions to feel as full.

pristine digestive systems???

How does eating a fat rat or a stray dog, count as pristine?? I think it's funny, because most of the people who go to the "cultural" restaurants in big cities, i.e. China town, are slurping down their multi-cultural meal of the day, thinking they are soooo hip, but they find those people in there have been serving rats, cats, dogs, and pigeons all the time. I had a friend whose hubby was a health inspector in NY, he said the things they saw would put you off your feed for days. Half the time, the "inspectors" get a little dough under the table and don't say squat.  The people in the WV ads didn't have to do the dang test, no one held a gun to their heads, so I think everyone can untwist their ruffly pink panties now.

 P.S. I have BK, McD, Steak and Shake, Red Robin, Sonic, Ruby Tuesday's, O'Charley's, and Buffalo's all within a mile from my house. If I get a burger craving, it's hard to decide which one!

Not that hard to decide...

Red Robin!!

Whopper Virgins is hilarious

"I like seal meat better." - Inuit at the end of Whopper Virgins documentary

That must be some pretty good seal meat. I want some. I'll have to settle for Whoppers, for now. Have you guys watched the video? I finally went to the website and watched the whole thing... awesome! There's something cool about people from two completely different cultures coming together and sharing food. One guy gave a coat to one of the film crew. I'm surprised how many people preffered BigMacs or had No Preference. I guess you need to have them for a couple years before you realize that McDonald's burgers sit in your stomach like a lump.

I didn't have much opinion about BK until recently.  Two trips in a row, the McD's by my work gave me atrociously slow service, even for 3 a.m.  I vowed never to go back, at least to that particular McD's.  Next time, I went to the BK.  I ordered a Whopper.  I loved it.  Way better than McD's, and the service was almost blindingly fast, and exceedingly more curteous.  I'm a Whopper man.

There's a reason why BK makes money, and the UN doesn't.  People like BK.  People want BK.  Nobody wants the UN except for out-of-touch beaurocrats that pine for a one world totalitarian government that will give them positions at Miniplenty.

I think that beaurocrat is like a carrier.  Infected by a disease, but not affected.  You know, like typhoid Mary.  Except beaurocrats are carriers of depression, with a bit of oppression.  Think about it: how often do you come away from an encounter with a beaurocrat feeling happier?  Unless you're a liberal on the beaurocrats good side... rubber stamp approval *stamp*!

Sarah Palin/Jason Lewis 2012

Obama, pathological nacissist: http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html

Ummmm, these commercials

Ummmm, these commercials are being shown in the USA.

The real 'ugly American' is Obama, who puts down America at every step. I meet immigrants all the time who say America is 'the greatest place they have ever been' and that they never want to leave. Ask them about America and out comes the thousand watt smile. It's the whiney progressives who hate America, not foreigners.

D

Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.

I don't care how an Incan or a Mayan feel about---

 don't care how an Incan or a Mayan feel about--- BK. I just prefer the old ads when it was simple. Do you like broiled or fried???

I like broiled-- so it's BK for me.

Liberals Oppose the Poor

Why do liberals oppose affordable dining for the poor?  Oh, because the poor are too dumb to eat expensive organic food like this liberal elitist from the Chicago Tribune.

I grew up without a lot of money.  A trip to McDonald's was actually a "nice" thing we would do on rare occasions as a family.  It was all we could afford.

I plan on going to my local Burger King this week, just to thumb my nose at these liberals. The Whopper is a great hamburger by the way.

I wonder if they buy those

I wonder if they buy those magnetic letter strips and stick them to the fridge to determine what dismissive phrase they can utter to American charity, "multiculturalism" of sharing OUR culture, and entrepenurialship. 

Sometimes the nice-sounding string of nonsense does sound strangely poetic at times...

I don't like Burger King, but then it's because it tastes gross to me and I like other burgers better. However, I don't view it as a freaking character flaw of the chain to want to sell their product or for anyone that buys it. 

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” ~ Winston Churchill

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.