Did Burger King Really Just Issue A C&D Through Twitter?

from the it-takes-two-hands dept

Now that it's legal to serve papers to someone through Facebook, Burger King has apparently sent a cease and desist via Twitter to the user "whoppervirgins" for an unauthorized use of trademark. "Whopper Virgins" is the latest multi-million dollar ad campaign from Burger King to hit the airwaves, featuring documentary-like ads depicting Hmong, Inuit and Romanian villagers eating burgers for the first time. Sure, "theBKlounge" account may not really be Burger King, or the C&D could actually be an in-character joke. But, really, did nobody at the agency think to simply grab the twitter account "whoppervirgins" to begin with? From the start, this campaign seems to have attracted criticism. In addition to flak for being "corporate colonialism," "cultural bullying" and "the worst kind of Ugly Americanism," this campaign has been ridiculed for not doing enough good SEO to support the campaign. In any case, perhaps Burger King purposely planned these strange moves, in order to generate fodder for bloggers to chew on, since in all honestly, I am really, really craving a Whopper right now.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 8:03pm

    I sure as hell do not want one...blek

    and I LOOVVEE lamp

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    The BK Lounge?

    icon
    Joe (profile), Dec 18th, 2008 @ 8:13pm

    "The BK Lounge" is a skit by Dane Cook. 100% sure that's not Burger King.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 8:16pm

    AC's across the world LOVE LAMP

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    well

    identicon
    andrew, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 8:39pm

    Do you really expect every company to have someone on staff to register every possible trademark on every site to prevent someone from using it?

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    This has to be fake!

    icon
    Eric Goldman (profile), Dec 18th, 2008 @ 8:41pm

    There is no possible way a lawyer could say ANYTHING, let alone a C&D demand, in 140 characters!

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    Re: This has to be fake!

    identicon
    TriZz, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 8:49pm

    Bravo, sir.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  

    Re: The BK Lounge?

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 9:43pm

    Well, that user's picture and Bio definitely smack %100 of Burger King, with no mention of Dan Cook.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  

    Re: The BK Lounge?

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 9:46pm

    Oops, make that Dane.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Chunky Vomit, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 10:02pm

    "...perhaps Burger King purposely planned these strange moves, in order to generate fodder for bloggers to chew on, since in all honestly, I am really, really craving a Whopper right now."

    I just looked at the clock myself to see if I could make it to BK before they close. Sadly, it is two minutes after closing. So I'm out of luck for the evening.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  

    If there ever was a reason to be called a"piece of meat"

    identicon
    TEA-Time, Dec 18th, 2008 @ 11:13pm

    Maybe this is somehow leading up to a pitch for their new Flame men's body spray, which is apparently a part of the same viral ad campaign.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 12:31am

    Do people really still eat at Burger King? There are so many fantastic, and reasonably priced, burger restaurants it amazes me people still go to BK.

    I guess you'll tell me that people still think Pizza Hut make good pizzas...

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  

    Since this has gotten silly and off topic...

    identicon
    Haywood, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 3:20am

    How do the get the Big Mac to the test subjects? I mean they roll back into primitive places with a convoy, I could see how they could carry a portable Whopper maker, but the comparison burger, if made by them, isn't a Big Mac.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  

    Re: Since this has gotten silly and off topic...

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 5:53am

    Ummm. The inuits, Romanians, etc. are sitting in a boardroom in the commercial. I think they bring the people to the corporation, not the burgers to the people. Gah, I watch too much TV.

    Honestly, if I lived in a mud hut and someone brought me to a large US city for the first time, free of charge, I'd testify that a poo pattie is tastier than chocolate.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  

    User Name Check

    identicon
    Mark, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 6:27am

    C&D via Twitter? Puhleaze! Ok well they could use usernamecheck.com next time.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  

    I don't even know where to start

    identicon
    Jonathan, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 7:12am

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  

    woppervirgins

    identicon
    Sachin Balagopalan, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 7:47am

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  

    Poisoning People is Adverstising?

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 7:53am

    BK's fare is notoriously high in fat/carbs/portion sizes, and these poor rural villagers probably don't understand the long term impact of adapting a Western diet.

    Diabetes, obesity, heart disease - that's what's in store for these new "consumers" in a generation.

    BK should be ashamed, however since they need to keep poisoning new consumers to maintain their financial position in the market, I'm sure that shame isn't part of the corporate culture.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  

    Re: Re: Since this has gotten silly and off topic...

    identicon
    jonnyq, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 8:31am

    If they didn't tell you which was which, it would be a fair comparison.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 8:55am

    SEO should be considered a Marketing 101 topic.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  20.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 9:48am

    Would you taste one of their typical meals ?
    I didn't think so.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  21.  

    UNFAIR

    identicon
    Mark Regan, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 9:56am

    As a private investigator who occasionally serves process for government agencies and attorneys, I find it UNFAIR that Twitter is competing with me by serving process for FREE.

    It is time we require to join the American Association of Process Servers, and to disclose to their customers (Twitees?) that the personal information they provide can and will be used to assist in seeing that they are served with process.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  22.  

    Re: UNFAIR

    icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), Dec 19th, 2008 @ 10:10am

    I'm sorry, that comment is 279 characters too long. Please condense and resubmit.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  23.  

    Burger King induced Diarreha

    identicon
    hesitations, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 11:47am

    Most of these villagers eat a very low fat diet.

    Eating just one high fat burger will give them terrible diarreha.

    Their stomachs and intestines will hurt for days.

    I find it laughable.

    This harkens back to the Got MilK add featuring African Americans. Something like two-thirds of African American adults are lactose intolerant. Got Diarreha?

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  24.  

    Getting off topic for a minute

    identicon
    john, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 3:36pm

    I know this is off the topic of Burger King sending a C&D notice via Twitter, but here's something to think about: how would we feel if the situation was reversed?

    Imagine a restaurant from Korea comes to the US and asks Americans to decide which is better: flame-grilled something (which represents the "Whopper") or fried something (the "Big Mac")? Either way, we'd be asking what the **** is this food you're trying to serve me.
    What if they they only told us what the "something" was *after* we ate it... and it turned out to be dog or cat or guinea pig... and that your reaction was being filmed for a TV commercial to show that you liked their version the best?

    Do the "whopper virgins" even have a concept for eating cows? Do the Inuits even know what cows are? And did Burger King make sure that these peoples don't have any religious issues with eating beef, like Jews and Hindus?

    I just hope this whole "whopper virgin" campaign was staged with actors and Burger King didn't actually subject native people to greasy, fatty fast food and to the corporate-legalese contracts that they probably had to sign so Burger King could avoid any lawsuits when the people get sick.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  25.  

    Re: Re: UNFAIR

    identicon
    Mark, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 6:02pm

    Dear CHT: I need your street or twitter address. I've got some papers for you.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  26.  

    Re: Getting off topic for a minute

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 19th, 2008 @ 10:15pm

    "And did Burger King make sure that these peoples don't have any religious issues with eating beef, like Jews and Hindus?"

    The acting parts were outsourced to India

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  27.  

    not the first time

    identicon
    zaki blogjer, Dec 20th, 2008 @ 6:52pm

    I remember I read somewhere about this, where 1 user who hold twitter account 'celtic' got it revoked as well

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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