1. Read the SMM Case-Study for Burger King below, and read Chapter 10 from the Tuten & Solomon textbook
2. See BK’s “Moldy Whopper” campaign ad on YouTube:Try this link – it should work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ef7xw2J500
   
3. Answer the question/s after the case study, within 250 words.

Case Study:

Brand/Background: Burger King is an American multinational chain of fast-food restaurants. Headquartered in the unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant chain.

Problem: Burger King has had its bad share of PR in the past. Countless news stories about underpaid employees and tainted cooking ingredients left Burger King reeling as their competitors continued to move ahead, while Burger King faded into obscurity. In order to regain their former status, Burger King would need to make a big impact and prove that they were changing to fit their new circumstances.

Solution: Burger King made a commercial showing an actual moldy whopper. This moldy burger changed to better and shinier meat meant to symbolize how Burger King was changing their ways to higher quality ingredients to better serve their customers. This footage ran as a commercial, a YouTube ad, and an Instagram video.

Results: The outcome of this ad was mixed, to say the least. While some applauded the fast-food chain for changing their ways, many found the commercial to be vulgar, upsetting and they let their opinions be known. According to Brandwatch, on the first day of engagement over 50,000 people expressed disgust at the BK ad, making about 60% of its total reviews negative. However, with over two million Youtube views and 21 million hits on their hashtag, it can be argued that this campaign was still something of a success. The controversy sparked by the ad generated a lot of attention for the company – a prime example of the old saying, no such thing as bad PR.

Questions:

In SMM research, “Social media monitoring and listening literally mean to monitor conversations and content in social media channels by “listening”…By carefully choosing and searching the appropriate keywords and the relevant social communities, the researcher can gather insight into customer decision-making, perceptions of the brand, perceptions of competitors, and more” (p. 319). The Burger King “Moldy Whopper” campaign case study is an example of the use of ‘shock value,’ an ad appeal that marketing pundits have called a ‘dramatic demonstration,’ which Burger King attempted, to regain its brand identity in the competitive fast-food industry.

1. Using your “Social Media Listening and Monitoring” research skills (p. 319), do a quick and informal sampling of what you consider “positive” and “negative” perceptions of the BK brand and/or product, by copying/listing 5 ‘positive’ and 5 ‘negative’ viewer comments posted about the BK ‘Moldy Whopper’ ad on YouTube (link provided above). Do NOT include user names/handles.
2. What was your own reaction to the ‘Moldy Whopper’ YouTube ad/campaign – think like an SMM researcher?