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Burger King and
Nickelodeon Join Forces in Smutty Ad
 It’s nothing new for
Burger King to use sexually-charged imagery and
bizarre concepts in its commercials. In the last
five years, the fast-food chain has run through any
number of unsavory advertising gimmicks. From its
“Subservient Chicken” website (in which a man
dressed as a chicken performs actions dictated by
the viewer), to its faux teen music group Coq
Roq and their frequent use of sexual double
entendre, to ads starring its disturbingly-masked
“King” character, to its current campaigns profiling
“Whopper Virgins,” Burger King has courted teens and
young adults with its “edgy” advertising. And
another ad currently running has angered America’s
neighbors with its stereotyped portrayal of
Mexicans. But while these ads were often offensive,
at least they were aimed at older viewers and not at
children.
Until now.
 One of Burger King’s
most recent commercials prominently features
Nickelodeon’s beloved children’s cartoon character,
SpongeBob SquarePants, in an ad that makes a point
of displaying a BK Kids Meal. Unfortunately, the
commercial is also loaded with sexual imagery
degrading to women
The commercial opens
with the image of SpongeBob on a TV. It then shows a
woman’s rear, apparently with a book or some other
object inserted under her clothing, thus giving her
“square pants” (or, more accurately, a square rear
end). Burger King’s “King” character then places a
carpenter’s square against her rear.
“I like Square Butts,
and I cannot lie!” blares the commercial’s song. The
screen intercuts between scenes of women with
squared-off rears in skimpy outfits dancing and
alternately thrusting out their chests and rears,
with the camera often zooming in on their backsides,
and images of characters from the SpongeBob cartoon.
 “Swimmin’ through
the seaweed tangles/is a butt with sharp right
angles!…Now, Burger King wants me to seal the deal –
99 cents get a toy and a Kid’s Meal!”
sings the ad’s rap narrator, as the King holds up a
Kid’s Meal with a picture of SpongeBob on the bag.
“Booty is Booty!” proclaims the rapper, as a final
image shows the SpongeBob-festooned bag and the
slogan, “99¢ BK Kids Meal.”
When contacted by the
PTC, Burger King’s representatives claimed that the
ad targets adults, since the reduced price of the
meal is supposedly the commercial’s selling point.
But such an argument is farcical considering the
prominence given to a children’s cartoon character,
and the incessant mentions of Kids Meals in the ad.
Clearly, the commercial is intended to appeal to
children…a point reinforced by the fact that it was
aired during the NCAA basketball championship on
Monday, April 6 – and has run throughout prime-time
on various networks.
 Many parents have
written to the PTC criticizing the commercial’s
blatant sexism and obvious appeal to children. In
response to the PTC’s inquiries, Nickelodeon made
the following statement:
“The Burger King ad
is intended to be an adult-targeted and humorous
take on the SpongeBob character's iconic ‘square’
pants set to a famous pop song from the ‘90s. This
year marks SpongeBob SquarePants’ landmark 10th
anniversary year, and with a monthly adult
viewership of 45 million people above the age of 18,
the intention was to offer a funny and playful take
on the character for that audience.”
So Nickelodeon would
have us believe that its famous cartoon is actually
targeted towards adults? Nickelodeon
considers putting their most popular children’s
character in a lewd ad as an appropriate way to
celebrate that character’s 10th
anniversary?
With this statement,
Nick is not only telling a blatant lie – they are
also showing that they believe every parent in the
country is too stupid to recognize it as a lie.
Nickelodeon should not receive a free pass for using
their character in such a lascivious and overtly
sexual commercial.
Burger King – which
recently pledged to move away from such “edgy”
content -- has
apologized for its new ad stereotyping Mexicans,
but no such apology has been forthcoming for its
sexualized Kids Meal ad. Both companies should be
held responsible for aiming this tawdry commercial
at children.
►
To view Burger King’s
“Square Butts” ad,
click here.
► To
TAKE ACTION
against Burger King,
click here.
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