One of the print best ads we saw in 2020 was Burger King's infamous 'mouldy burger' campaign, which saw the company show off the Whopper's 'natural' ingredients by depicting it riddled with spores. And this latest striking campaign is in a similar vein.
At first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking you're staring at a macro close-up of some red meat. But no, those are peppers, beetroot and radicchio. Like all of the best print ads, this one is designed to make you double-take.
So you're telling me that's not meat? (Image credit: Burger King)
"Sorry for the confusion, meat lovers," reads the tagline – and indeed, you wouldn't know that's veg you're looking at. From the deep red colour to those thin fibres, the whole thing looks disconcertingly, well, meaty.
Which is exactly the point. "Many times, guests can’t tell the difference between the traditional Whopper and the plant-based Whopper," André Toledo, executive creative director at David Madrid, told Creative Review. "So we challenged a food photographer and a food stylist to shoot some vegetables in a way that would make them look like meat. The idea was to create ads that would make people ask themselves ‘Wait, is this meat or is this a plant?"
It's certainly a clever way of drawing attention to the (supposed) similarity in taste between the traditional meat Whopper and meatless alternative. And hey, the visual comparison is much more bearable than those insufferable 'meat alternative' names ('facon', 'not-dog', that sort of thing).
This is another smart print ad from Burger King – like the company's brilliant rebrand last year, it's both bold and original. Not that the burger pedallers always get it right, who can forget last year's disastrous International Women's Day tweet? If you're inspired to create an ad of your own, take a look at our guide on how to download Photoshop.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles. He has interviewed leaders and designers at brands including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe. Daniel's debut book of short stories and poems was published in 2018, and his comedy newsletter is a Substack Bestseller.
