The Most Bizarre Fast Food Commercials Of All Time
The Most Bizarre Fast Food Commercials of All Time
Watch TV for long enough and you're bound to see a fast food commercial or two. They're some of the most varied and creative ads on television, and with good reason: Fast food isn't exactly an easy sell, so simply showing a picture of a burger and explaining it isn't going to cut it. Chains need to resort to some serious hijinks to snag your attention (and business), and sometimes they go a little overboard.
Wendy’s: Give a Little Nibble
Remember Wendy's big follow-up to the legendary "Where's the Beef?" campaign called "Give a Little Nibble"? Neither does anybody else. The unsettling 1987 commercial, in which customers yanked off handfuls of ground beef from a giant burger, was supposed to launch a new campaign that would propel the brand back to relevancy, but instead it just weirded everybody out. It was pulled after seven weeks, and the ad agency behind it was fired.
McDonald’s: Introducing Ronald McDonald
If you've never seen the very first commercial to feature Ronald McDonald, from 1963, well... you probably don't want to. It's terrifying. Aired by McDonald's in 1963 and starring weatherman Willard Scott as Ronald, it features a Ronald wearing a big box of food on his head and a paper cup for a nose. It's deeply unsettling, to say the least.
Burger King: Wake Up with the King
Burger King's "King" character, wearing a creepy mask, has appeared in commercials for the company off and on for the last decade or so, and they're all slightly bizarre. The oddest one of all, however, involved a man who thinks he's in bed by himself, until he wakes up to find the King lying next to him and holding a breakfast sandwich. Our response wouldn't have been nearly as restrained as the guy's.
Quiznos: Spongmonkeys
The Spongmonkeys first appeared on animator Joel Veitch's rathergood.com in 2003, and became an early viral success. Featuring two creepy-cute creatures with big staring eyes and humanoid mouths singing wacky songs like "We Like the Moon," they became hits among the prime target demographic of young guys. So when Quiznos decided to commandeer them for their own advertising purposes, they thought that it would have the same viral effect. Instead, it was just bizarre, and one of the biggest fast food ad blunders of all time.
Jack in the Box: Jack
The character of Jack has been a long-running mascot for Jack in the Box, but just because it's been around for a while doesn't mean it's not creepy. Just watch this assortment of commercials starring him; the first one, in which he essentially gets into a fistfight with a guy after barging into his house late at night (we swear we're not making this up), is particularly head-scratching.
McDonald’s Japan: Female Ronald
Putting a model in a Ronald McDonald outfit and having her dance seductively is probably not the best way to sell burgers. Still, McDonald's Japan decided to give it a shot, and it just came across as bizarre.
KFC China: Jumbo
Two armies are fiercely battling in this commercial for KFC China, when a peace offering is handed to what's presumably a general: Jumbo chicken wings on a stick that don't resemble any wing we've ever seen. The two sides put away their differences and bond over the mutant KFC chicken. Sure, why not?
KFC: Bucket in My Hand
KFC's most recent ad campaign resurrects the legendary Colonel Sanders in the form of actor and comedian Darrell Hammond, and depending on whom you ask, the results are either charmingly folksy or bizarre and unsettling. Sanders finds himself in some odd places, like the middle of a traffic jam or an empty baseball diamond, singing a little ditty to himself. They're weird, offbeat, and undeniably funny.