The Advertisment War Between McDonald's and Burger King

McDonald’s (widely known as McD) is an American fast food company founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the widely known Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953. The company was bought out by Ray Kroc in 1955. McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain by revenue. They are famous for their burgers and fries, however, they also feature chicken products, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes and desserts. In an attempt to reposition themselves as a healthy franchise, they have also added salads, smoothies, fruits, etc to their menu.

Burger King (widely known as BK) is also an American global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. It was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King. It was renamed to Burger King when it was purchased by two of its franchisees in 1954. Just like their counterparts, Burger King too specialize in burgers, although they offer a wide variety of fast food products and beverages on its menus.

McDonald’s and Burger King are two of the leading brands in today’s fast food industry, with both of them having hundreds of franchisees spread all across the globe. Thus, it is almost obvious that the two brands have been fighting it out against one another to emerge as market leaders. McDonald’s and Burger King have been involved in one of the oldest brand wars in today’s world.

A significant attack was made by McDonald’s in a TV advertisement displayed in France, wherein a giant road sign was placed showing the distance to the closest Burger King outlet. Next to that was a very small McDonald sign, showing the nearest outlet at a distance of just 5 kilometers as opposed to Burger King’s 200+kms. This was a direct attack by McDonald’s, who wanted to advertise their superiority to Burger King in terms of number of outlets and make a claim that they were still the leaders in their market segment.

As it goes in every case, no competitor stays quiet after being attacked by their rivals. Burger King, too, did not stay quiet for long, and they came up with a reply of their own. In their reply, we can see the same video as it was displayed in the McDonald’s ad, however, after the normal ending, the Burger King ad showed a part where we can see a customer going to McDonald’s to purchase a cup of coffee, as they have to cover a lot of distance to reach their preferred Burger king outlet. Burger King sarcastically thanks McDonald’s for being everywhere so that their valued customers can make pit stops at McDonald’s outlets on their way to the more preferred Burger King establishment.

Another famous advertisement launched by Burger King shows McDonald’s mascot clown, Ronald McDonald, purchasing food from Burger King. Although it is not explicitly mentioned that it is Ronald, a clown very similar to McDonald’s clown is shown wearing a hat and long coat to secretly purchase from Burger King. This advertisement created a public uproar as it was a very smartly created ad.

Another successful attack from Burger King came after the release of the famous horror movie “It” which had a clown wearing similar colors as Ronald McDonald as its antagonist. Burger King exploited this opportunity to the fullest by offering free burgers to anyone who dressed up as said clown on Halloween night and displayed and advertisement similar to the theme of the movie “It” where the clown was almost similar to McDonald’s mascot clown with the caption, “#ScaryClownNight”.

One big failure on Burger King’s part was their disastrous “Whopper Virgins” ad campaign, which was similar to PepsiCo’s Pepsi Challenge, wherein blind taste tests were conducted between McDonald’s Big Mac and their own Whopper. However, it didn’t turn out as they had hoped it would as the advertisement was perceived as racist and exploitative.

One Burger King tagline became very famous on social media platforms for its ingenuity. It said, “Why eat with a clown when you can dine with a King?” This took a jab at McDonald’s clown mascot by comparing it to Burger King’s own mascot called “the King”. Even though Burger King has often launched many brand battles against McDonald’s, it seems as if McDonald’s is still the market leader in the industry. However, Burger King has benefitted greatly from their advertisement activities.