See the commercial below:
In what is the most ambitious marketing initiative in all of Burger King’s 58 year history, the fast food chain is undergoing a massive overhaul, offering garden salads, snack wraps and fruit smoothies. The king of burgers was never really the king of burgers, trailing McDonalds in annual sales, and was recently passed by Wendy’s for the number two spot in the burger race. BK decided to revamp their image and only needed a celebrity to peddle the new fast food items, but the new ad has Mary J. Blige upset.
Singing a parody to the tune of “Don’t Mind” from her latest album, Mary J. Blige sings lyrics promoting the new Burger King changes in the ad, “crispy chicken, fresh lettuce, three cheeses, ranch dressing, wrapped up in a tasty flour tortilla.”
It turns out the commercial has been widely criticized on the web for playing into stereotypes and furthermore, Mary J. Blige has come forth saying the ad was never finished even though it was aired. In a statement to the Associated Press, Mary J. Blige said, “I agreed to be a part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that’s not what was happening in that clip, so I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. But, if you’re a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw to go out.”
Burger King was forced to pull the ad after viewers began to complain. The chain released a statement about the ad saying it was “released prematurely before all of the licensing and final approvals were obtained.” They also issued an apology to Blige, “we would like to apologize to Mary J. and all of her fans for airing an ad that was not final. We know how important Mary J. is to her fans, and we are currently in the process of finalizing the commercial. We hope to have the final ad on the air soon.”
See the commercial below:
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