McDonald’s to Burger King: No thanks to ‘McWhopper’ idea
BK offered an olive branch to its longtime rival, proposing a one-time collaboration to benefit the charity Peace One Day.
All I saw was the headline yesterday: “Burger King to McDonald’s: Let’s Make a ‘McWhopper’.”
Brilliant, I thought. Growing up in the 80s, the only brand rivalry that even came close was Coke vs. Pepsi. In this PC age, where bullying is out and peace and collaboration is in, why not use the olive branch as a marketing ploy?
It had all the makings of a viral hit. On top of that, it was for a good cause.
Burger King took out a full-page ad in The New York Times, issuing an open letter to McDonald’s. “Good morning, McDonald’s,” the letter read. “We come in peace. In fact, we come in honor of peace. We know we’ve had our petty differences, but how about we call a ceasefire on all these so-called ‘burger wars’?” Brand managers also posted this YouTube video:
The idea was to make the combo burger at a one-off at an Atlanta pop-up. Proceeds would be donated to the nonprofit Peace One Day.
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