I have been following the story of the Burger King commercial – “I like Square Butts” with interest. When I first saw the commercial I personally thought it had crossed the line. I wasn’t sure why Burger King thought it would be appropriate to use a highly sexualized video to promote a kid’s meal.
I realize that being a father to two daughters I can sometimes be a little over-sensitive about these things. However, it occurs to me that tying a popular cartoon character, to a kids meal, to the sexual objectification of women in a hip-hop style really does take marketing too far.
Its hard enough to keep children from being swamped with inappropriate messages, but this type of marketing just makes a parents life even harder. The ad has apparently been running during South Park, so perhaps Burger King are now trying to persuade a slightly older demographic to eat kids meals, though not sure they are going to want the free spongebob toy that comes with it.
I am not a person that tends toward the overly Politically Correct, I think that people are entitled to have a bit of fun and show their creativity, but this commercial doesn’t do that. Etrade with their baby stock trader is a great example of doing something off the wall, that is funny and creative without being offensive.
So should I just “get a hobby” as one website recommends to those who find it offensive or does this Ad make it harder for parents?
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While I too thought the commercial was a bit over the top – or just plain strange, I didn’t find it sexually offensive in any way. For one, the original Sir Mixalot song gets played just about anywhere your kids might be, at the mall, at parties, etc… Whether this is offensive in nature is highly debatable, considering that quite a bit of today’s music may be interpreted as objectifying women or offensive, but its all over TV and radio, so singling out a particualt commercial, which is obviously mocking the concept, doesn’t seem appropriate. It should be duly noted, however, that the SBSP fanbase is not entirely composed of kids, or perhaps kids aren’t even the majority of the fanbase. I’d have to say that Burger King has definitely made its mark – recently – with some surreal, strange concoctions of commercials, and this one is not much different.
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While I too thought the commercial was a bit over the top – or just plain strange, I didn’t find it sexually offensive in any way. For one, the original Sir Mixalot song gets played just about anywhere your kids might be, at the mall, at parties, etc… Whether this is offensive in nature is highly debatable, considering that quite a bit of today’s music may be interpreted as objectifying women or offensive, but its all over TV and radio, so singling out a particualt commercial, which is obviously mocking the concept, doesn’t seem appropriate. It should be duly noted, however, that the SBSP fanbase is not entirely composed of kids, or perhaps kids aren’t even the majority of the fanbase. I’d have to say that Burger King has definitely made its mark – recently – with some surreal, strange concoctions of commercials, and this one is not much different.
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Great post Simon. I understand the uproar but I have to think that the people horrified by this are not exactly who Burger King cares about impressing.
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Great post Simon. I understand the uproar but I have to think that the people horrified by this are not exactly who Burger King cares about impressing.
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A lot of what we perceive as sexual imagery in that commercial comes from context. You and I have seen the original Sir Mixalot video. Kids typically have not, and probably wouldn’t understand it sexually even if they did. Kids – at least the ones that frequent my house – perceive it as silly butt humor, which they find great, but innocent, pleasure in.
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A lot of what we perceive as sexual imagery in that commercial comes from context. You and I have seen the original Sir Mixalot video. Kids typically have not, and probably wouldn’t understand it sexually even if they did. Kids – at least the ones that frequent my house – perceive it as silly butt humor, which they find great, but innocent, pleasure in.
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I am 22 years old and not a conservative person, but after seeing this ad, I could not help but feel confused and somewhat concerned. The original Sir-Mix-A-Lot video was focused on one body part, with quite a few obvious sexual references towards it. The song was purely an ode to how this certain body part turns him on. So, why would Burger King use a song about how a butt turns a man on to promote a meal for a CHILD? Burger King is obviously wanting to stand out in a major way, trying to be the edgy fast food restaurant, but I think this ad is silly and completely off the mark.
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I am 22 years old and not a conservative person, but after seeing this ad, I could not help but feel confused and somewhat concerned. The original Sir-Mix-A-Lot video was focused on one body part, with quite a few obvious sexual references towards it. The song was purely an ode to how this certain body part turns him on. So, why would Burger King use a song about how a butt turns a man on to promote a meal for a CHILD? Burger King is obviously wanting to stand out in a major way, trying to be the edgy fast food restaurant, but I think this ad is silly and completely off the mark.
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Couldn’t agree more. The best thing we can do is monitor what our children see. Their grooming is our number one job.
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Couldn’t agree more. The best thing we can do is monitor what our children see. Their grooming is our number one job.
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I personally agree with you. I find this very offensive. It’s hard enough to try to keep my son on the right track without commercials like this putting it right there in their face. We’ve seen the commercial several times and it just irritates me that a company like Burger King would put something like this out there for the kids to see. I was never much of a fan of Burger King, and this surely doesn’t help their image in my eyes.
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I personally agree with you. I find this very offensive. It’s hard enough to try to keep my son on the right track without commercials like this putting it right there in their face. We’ve seen the commercial several times and it just irritates me that a company like Burger King would put something like this out there for the kids to see. I was never much of a fan of Burger King, and this surely doesn’t help their image in my eyes.
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I agree! When my husband and I saw the commercial the first time we both thought Burger King had taken one step too far. Or maybe two or three steps. They say sex sells, but I don’t want anyone to sell sex to my 6 year old. And if someone says that it isn’t sexual imagery for kids, I get it – but I don’t know how my kids would take the booty spanking. Now we won’t be taking our kids to Burger King even that once a year that we used to.
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I agree! When my husband and I saw the commercial the first time we both thought Burger King had taken one step too far. Or maybe two or three steps. They say sex sells, but I don’t want anyone to sell sex to my 6 year old. And if someone says that it isn’t sexual imagery for kids, I get it – but I don’t know how my kids would take the booty spanking. Now we won’t be taking our kids to Burger King even that once a year that we used to.
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I’m not sure I care if the kids get the sexual context or not. I get it, and it makes gross. These commercials are already disturbing enough with the creepy king, this just hits the top of the bothersome meter.
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I’m not sure I care if the kids get the sexual context or not. I get it, and it makes gross. These commercials are already disturbing enough with the creepy king, this just hits the top of the bothersome meter.
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I smell a lawsuit. I’m going for damages incurred in the form of therapy for my three sons that have a fetish for non-existent rectangular asses. I have enough trouble with my kids as it is ( http://dadicals.blogspot.com/2009/04/do-not-ride-your-bike-down-waterfall.html )
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I smell a lawsuit. I’m going for damages incurred in the form of therapy for my three sons that have a fetish for non-existent rectangular asses. I have enough trouble with my kids as it is ( http://dadicals.blogspot.com/2009/04/do-not-ride-your-bike-down-waterfall.html )
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I should have been somewhat worried that my kids were both staring at the television when that came on but I was a little traumatized myself. LOL That wasn’t nearly as bad as the bull riding commercial a couple years back though as far as being sexualized. But yeah, we have enough to worry about as parents without having to explain things like that to our kiddos.
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I should have been somewhat worried that my kids were both staring at the television when that came on but I was a little traumatized myself. LOL That wasn’t nearly as bad as the bull riding commercial a couple years back though as far as being sexualized. But yeah, we have enough to worry about as parents without having to explain things like that to our kiddos.
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With a 2 and a 5 year old in the house, my wife and I are seemingly always amazed at the media other kids in the neighborhood are watching.
A 4 year old going to see Iron Man.
A birthday party for 5 year olds at a movie theatre – to see the latest Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin.
Both movies I would like to see – but hardly appropriate for the age group.
This commercial surprised me very much and I am on the same page as the blogger. Plus, looking at it solely from the grown up perspective – I don’t get where BK even thinks it’s a clever ad.
Which leads me to post this blog link to images from a European ad campaign for BK:
http://zakstar.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/burger-king-ads-in-europe/
Pretty bad taste, methinks. While one might argue there are some funny images in there – you can bet that kids are attracted to the style. Then confused by the content.
It is very tough to filter out all of this unwarranted noise for our kids.
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With a 2 and a 5 year old in the house, my wife and I are seemingly always amazed at the media other kids in the neighborhood are watching.
A 4 year old going to see Iron Man.
A birthday party for 5 year olds at a movie theatre – to see the latest Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin.
Both movies I would like to see – but hardly appropriate for the age group.
This commercial surprised me very much and I am on the same page as the blogger. Plus, looking at it solely from the grown up perspective – I don’t get where BK even thinks it’s a clever ad.
Which leads me to post this blog link to images from a European ad campaign for BK:
http://zakstar.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/burger-king-ads-in-europe/
Pretty bad taste, methinks. While one might argue there are some funny images in there – you can bet that kids are attracted to the style. Then confused by the content.
It is very tough to filter out all of this unwarranted noise for our kids.
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If your child starts shoving a box in their pants and trying to make their butt more square because of that commercial- you have so much more to worry about than that commercial.
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If your child starts shoving a box in their pants and trying to make their butt more square because of that commercial- you have so much more to worry about than that commercial.
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If your child starts shoving a box in their pants and trying to make their butt more square because of that commercial- you have so much more to worry about than that commercial.
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If your child starts shoving a box in their pants and trying to make their butt more square because of that commercial- you have so much more to worry about than that commercial.
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If your child starts shoving a box in their pants and trying to make their butt more square because of that commercial- you have so much more to worry about than that commercial.
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I agree. This commercial seems like it would be for an older audience.
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I agree. This commercial seems like it would be for an older audience.