Recent ads by big companies go awry, spark controversy

[Nagishkaw 510]

Ah, advertising. The 1930s performer Will Rogers famously referred to it as "the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need."

But that time-honored tradition can easily run afoul of the other mandate of the modern advertiser: to amp up the imagery, language or overall shock value of an ad to get your client's product to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Lately, the clash of these central directives has generated a lot of buzz for some major ad clients — just not the kind that they were hoping for.

Burger King's "The King's Gone Crazy" campaign

The ad in question features BK's trademark king running frantically through an office building, apparently as an escaped mental patient, pursued by a man dressed in a white lab coat who yells, "Stop that King, he's crazy!"

The runaway King proceeds to run through the glass window of a break room to hand a burger over to a woman standing next to a microwave. Then two bow-tied men materialize and subdue him — the clear implication being that they are attendants from a mental hospital. They tell the shocked woman holding the burger that "this King's insane" for giving away "so much beef for $3.99." Smitten with the low price, she replies to one of the attendants, "you're the one who's nuts." You can watch the spot here:

Once the ad aired, it drew outraged protests from mental health advocates. Michael Fitzpatrick, the executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told the Washington Post that he found the ad "blatantly offensive," saying that he was "absolutely stunned and appalled" when he saw it.

Some have pointed out that the ad — which recently ended its scheduled run — was reminiscent of the old "Crazy Eddie" discount electronics store ads that ran in the Northeast for a number of years. The real Crazy Eddie, a man by the name of Eddie Antar, spent a number of years in prison on fraud-related charges. The cheap-burger-slinging King remains on the right side of the law, so far as we know.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100414/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1615

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Yeah, a lot of those Burger King commercials are just bizarre and creepy. Jack of Jack in the Box has also run his course.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

lol, people get offended at everything.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

I'm scared of the King.

[trillium13 84]

lol, people go out of their way to create reasons to get offended at everything.

Fixed that for ya