Burger King’s feud with McDonald’s to prove they’re the better hamburger restaurant goes back far too long. But no amount of trolling will ever surpass their latest publicity stunt, which turned the movie It into an advertisement for Burger King.
Andres Muschietti’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s famous novel It has racked up over $570 million since it hit the big screen. Thirty years after its first appearance on film, It is still among the most popular horror films, and Burger King took advantage of this.
Burger King’s German headquarters’ turned It into their longest commercial ever. Their perfectly executed plan was simple, elegant, efficient, and garnered laughs from an entire movie theater that had just been screaming in terror.
Right before the final credits, a text appeared on the screen that read, “THE MORAL IS: NEVER TRUST A CLOWN,” but that wasn’t it. Seconds later, the Burger King logo appeared, and the entire crowd at the theatre burst into laughter, clapping cheerfully.
It’s no question that the joke got a positive reaction, but it was mostly because of the shock factor. Seeing an ad after a horror movie, especially one that is promoting a burger restaurant while trolling the other, was never expected.
September 27th, 2017 was the pre-premiere of the movie It in Germany, and Burger King’s funny stunt left many viewers present pleasantly surprised. One of them said, “In a horror film, you expect anything, but nothing like this.”
This commercial is not the first time that Burger King associates its brand with the horror film. However, one of the more recent incidents was because Burger King Russia wanted to ban It from their country because Pennywise looks too much like Ronald McDonald.
“We can’t be concerned with the content of the film because the writer and director have their own creative understanding of any character,” a spokeswoman for the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) told the Hollywood Reporter.
Burger King Russia’s complaint never came to fruition, and It grossed over $15 million in Russia spread throughout over 100 movie theaters. The movie is now the highest-grossing R-rated horror film to have ever hit the big screen.