Medium-well done, Burger King.
The fast-food chain has introduced a new “Proud Whopper” to celebrate gay pride, featuring a bright, rainbow-colored wrapper.
Burger King released a short film Wednesday on YouTube featuring patrons’ reactions when opening the new burger, offered during San Francisco’s Pride Parade Sunday, June 29. The burger appears different on the outside, but soon enough customers realize it’s the same Whopper the fast-food chain has been selling for years. Once unwrapped, the words “We are all the same inside” are revealed on the wrapper.
“I cried in there because I was overwhelmed,” one patron said in the video. “A burger has never made me cry before.”
Another “Proud Whopper” eater said, “It makes me feel supported, it makes me feel proud. And it’s just a burger, but I mean, it’s baby steps the whole way.”
A young boy told the camera, “I think this wrapper means that we all have the same rights.”
Burger King SVP-Global Brand Management Fernando Machado spearheaded the campaign after the fast-food chain revamped its “Have It Your Way” slogan after 40 years in May, to “Be Your Way.”
Proud. #BeYourWay pic.twitter.com/JkgKZjVx4u
— Burger King (@BurgerKing) June 29, 2014“I would like to believe we are uniting people behind this message that I hope all can support,” Machado said in an interview with BurgerBusiness.com. “This is exactly what ‘Be Your Way’ means.”
Burger King isn’t the first fast-food chain to make headlines in the LGBT community. Chick-fil-A sparked controversy in 2012 after its Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy said that it was company policy to support “the family – the biblical definition of the family unit.” He stated that in his view, same-sex marriages invite “God’s judgment” and its proponents “have the audacity to define what marriage is about.” Since then, the company’s leadership has agreed to stop funding groups with anti-gay marriage stances, and even befriended LGBT author and activist Shane Windmeyer.
When asked if the new “Proud Whopper” is part of an effort designed to be a contrast to Chick-fil-A, Machado told Time, “Frankly we were not concerned about benchmarking ourselves compared to other brands. We were much more concerned to do what was right for our brand.”
Anna Brand