One of the only truly astonishing spectacles left to witness in this world is just how desperate brands are willing to get in order to capture your attention. And it’s really annoying when it works. This week, Burger King announced—to much brouhaha—that it will begin rolling out “Real Meals” in big U.S. cities as part of a collaboration with the organization Mental Health America.
Burger King
Real Meals feature five different boxes customers can choose from when they order a Whopper meal, which nominally correspond to different moods. The five official Burger King moods are as follows: Pissed, Blue, Salty, YAAAS and DGAF. And don’t worry, there’s a commercial. In it, a bunch of despondent-looking people express, via the art of song, that it’s OK to admit something’s wrong and that you don’t always have to feel great. It looks like a cross between the musical interlude in 500 Days of Summer and a PSA for at-risk teens.
Timed to Mental Health Awareness Month in May, the “Real Meals” include the Blue Meal, Salty Meal, Yaaas Meal and DGAF (Don’t Give a F—) Meal. They include a Whopper, french fries and a drink.
“Burger King restaurants understands that no one is happy all the time. That’s why they’re asking guests to order a Whopper meal based on however they might be feeling,” an online release says.
The effort also pokes fun at McDonald’s, which markets Happy Meals, boxed kids’ deals that include a toy. Burger King launched an ad on YouTube showing a montage of people in various emotional states, using the line: “No one is happy all the time. And that’s OK.”
The ad swaps Burger King’s well-known chorus from the 1970s, “Have it your way,” with “Feel your way.” The music also has been changed to be more authentic to the idea that people can have a range of feelings.
Yes: a wonderful way to sell hamburgers is to market them to people who feel hopeless, scorned, frustrated and mad at the world. Encourage them to consume things that may lead to heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer. Put burgers in grim dark boxes with profane names. Sell despair. “Feel your way.” Because all that matters is how you feel, right? Don’t worry, be crappy. It’s okay.
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