I am not sure how I feel about the Burger King Sir-Mix-Alot “Square Butts” SpongeBob Square Pants remix Commercial. I did already understand that SpongeBob cartoons are a bit weird and I often wonder how much acid the writers must drop before creating some of the SpongeBob episodes. This commercial however crosses a few lines in my opinion. There are some brands that are known for going way outside of the box to make a point and it works. Take the Carl’s Junior Bourbon Burger commercial for example. The Carl’s Junior commercial starts out almost as a PSA and draws you in emotionally. At the point you are almost blown away by the fact that the doctor is explaining to you his need for a bourbon in order to focus in surgery the scene switches to the doctor eating a burger. What a great commercial. With Burger King I feel that they are not reaching their intended audience in the best way possible. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a prude, I just think they could do more damage with this to their brand then good. People eat at Carl’s Junior who want lewd advertising of Paris Hilton on a car. I can remember the huge signs Carl’s Junior put up 5 or 6 years ago promoting their “Tasty Chicks” chicken sandwiches, who doesn’t like tasty chicks, prudes don’t and I guess all that’s left for prudes is Starbucks. Even McDonald’s coffee commercials take a crack at prudes. My educated guess would be that they are trying to reach parents that are around my age. As much as I enjoyed Sir-Mix-Alot when I was in high school, remixing it to promote the new SpongeBob toy does not really do the Burger King brand any justice, but is it really about the brand anymore? Your thoughts?
I laugh my (not square) ass off at this commercial. It’s hilarious, for sure, and it’s made to target adults in the first place. Adults have the money, not the kids, like you said–our age group.
But you praise Carl’s Jr. for their Bourbon Burger commercials (which are freakin’ amazing burgers, by the way) for their clever PSA-style hook, and I agree, they’re very clever. But we can’t forget that CJ’s has already tread this territory a few years ago with their “Flat Buns” commercial. Which were WAY more lame, WAY less funny, and WAY more annoying.