this post is long overdue…but i saw a commercial back in december that directed me to whoppervirgins.com. basically burger king commissioned a team of filmmakers and researchers to find people in three remote locations (thailand, greenland and romania) who had never eaten a hamburger before, much less a burger king hamburger. then they asked the person to compare a whopper with a big mac and say what was better. (whopper won)
i was totally appalled at first.
like–just the use of the word “virgin”–bk’s big dick popping burger cherries around the globe. considering what crap is used in fast food, the environmental impacts of bk’s expansion, the economic impacts around the globe. one requirement of the taste test was that there would have to be a mcdonalds and bk close enough so the burgers would be the absolute “freshest.” clearly, these fast food chains have already taken over the whole fucking world so why root out the few people who haven’t been tainted by icky american food?
then i took a step back…
what if the folks in romania, greenland and thailand find it super exciting/intriguing to see how enthusiastic some americans are about getting them to try a few burgers? i wonder how much they get compensated?
and hey–some people do find hamburgers extremely tasty. what’s wrong with feeding some people, compensating them (i’m sure) and wrapping it up into a neat little video to display on the internet?
at least it’s an interesting ad campaign…
not so fast! this whole thing is a lesson in anthropology –how one people from one culture view another culture and bring back what they’ve “learned.” this is no independent film here folks. these bk guys are in search of people who “really live outside of things” and they are “really curious to see their expressions” when faced with a whopper. like here we are–aren’t we americans great? we are saving these poor (backwards?) disconnected people from a lifetime of wondering what the hell a “sándwich americán” tastes like.
furthermore, what about all those people who said a big mac is better? (the majority is not always correct)
i don’t know. this all just doesn’t sit right with me.
what about a third option: a homemade, grass-fed, free range burger with ripe tomatoes, non-shitty lettuce and fresh baked bread (or even designed with consideration for the individual’s traditional diet). which one do you think would win?
This is actually a common colonialist trope which often occurred with technology. For example, one of the first documentaries Nanook of the North, features the filmmaker introducing Nanook, a Inuit tribesperson, to an early phonograph and focusing in on his reaction.
Startling the colonial other with the magic of modernity.