Angry-Gram: When you want to say 'I hate you' with a sandwich

First, did you all know that Burger King was called Hungry Jacks in Austrailia? I had no idea that has been going on all these years under my nose. What is the point of the name change, exactly? Was there already a Burger King down under?

Anyway, I'm a fan of Burger King's new brand identity as the weird, off-beat, humorous, and slightly edgy fast-food restaurant. Agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky have done good work creating strong television commercials and fun, interactive campaigns online. Burger King has become the master of viral fast-food campaigns and McDonalds is always trying to ketchup (HA HA HA HA HA!!!)

Last week BK received a decent amount of buzz for their Whopper Sacrifice campaign: sacrifice (delete) 10 of your Facebook friends and receive a coupon for a free Whopper. It's funny, a little mean, easy to measure, and will spread like a wildfire.

However, I prefer BK's other new online effort: the Angry-Gram. Meant to coincide with their new Angry Whopper sandwich, visitors to the site can fill in a Mad-Lib like letter to a friend, which is then generated into an angry tirade given by a cartoon Angry Whopper that can be e-mailed to a friend. It's also funny, a little mean, will spread like a wildfire. In addition, it can generate repeat visits by making each tirade unique. Two of my favorites have been: "Why do you always drive so fast? Are you late for an idiot parade or something?" and "You fake being upset more than a Spanish TV soap star."

Originally the Whopper talked in an angry English cockney accent, which made things even funnier. Checking it out today, however, I noticed the accent had changed to a more normal angry voice (although sometimes it screws up and goes back to the old recordings). Maybe people complained that it was hard to make out what the Whopper was saying. I hope it wasn't changed because a couple of prudes found the accent offending. It wasn't.

Despite all these funny ads, I have yet to get to a Burger King (although the Angry Whopper does look good. Anyone try it yet?). The Burger Kings around me in Cleveland are hard to get to, dirty, depressing, and offer poor service. I'm not exactly surprised, it's still a Burger King. Now that BK has established a strong brand identity through their marketing I think now they need to work on extending that brand identity to the customers' actual BK dining experience.

Feel free to send me an Angry-gram at johndaviddrake@gmail.com.