FOOD NEWS
The Unorthodox Way Burger King's First Mascot Came
To Be
By Chase Shustack
Mascots are used by brands to build a "relationship" with the customer, and they symbolize the values and message of the company. Fast-food customers have likely seen Burger King's "King" mascot, who extols the values and virtues of all things Burger King, but they may not know how the sultan of hamburgers came to be.
Burger King used to hire performers to entertain the crowds outside of their restaurants, and they brought tanks of helium outfitted with a giant plastic head of a king to blow up balloons. The legend goes that an ad executive, while scrolling through eBay in 2004, discovered one of these huge plastic heads for sale and used it as inspiration for the “King” mascot.
Burger King's "King” made the splash that the executives wanted him to, and though he was meant to be retired in 2011, he came back in 2015. Burger King has begun to rebrand in 2022 to focus more on the brand's "playful boldness” (per PennLive), but the company made no mention of its famous mascot either way, leaving his fate up in the air.