Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce. Special orders don’t upset us -- but it going to cost you if you want that burger quickly.
It’s bad enough to wait in line at a fast-food restaurant. But when you have to wait because of a government policy, well, that’s a whopper of a tale.
Burger King released a new advertisement Wednesday that poked fun at net neutrality. That is a rule prohibiting internet service providers from speeding up, slowing down or blocking content, and it was repealed last month by the Federal Communications Commission.
In Burger King's ad, a "social experiment" takes place with a Whopper "fast lane," CNN reported. Customers who wanted their Whopper delivered quickly were hit with a $26 bill. Those who refused to pay any extra surcharges had to wait up to 20 minutes.
The ad, called “Whopper Neutrality,” parodies the FCC ruling that was pushed by the Trump administration.
“Sir, you’ve got the slow Whopper pass,” a Burger King cashier tells a disbelieving customer. That means the customer gets the Whopper for the regular price of $4.99 but has to wait. A fast Whopper pass costs $12.99, while a hyperfast pass sets the customer back $25.99.
“Wait. What?” a customer asks.
Another customer is irked when the cashier tells him that “the sandwich is ready, I’m just not allowed to actually give it to you yet.”
“You can't give me the sandwich? It's ready but you can't give it to me?” the customer responds. “Oh, my God, this is the worst thing I've ever heard of!”
The commercial’s edgy theme also pokes fun at FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The Burger King mascot is seen at the end of the ad sipping from a large Reese’s mug, the same type of cup Pai has used at news conferences.
Fernando Machado, Burger King’s top marketing executive, said in a statement that the company believes “the internet should be like Burger King restaurants, a place that doesn't prioritize and welcomes everyone,” CNN reported.
It’s a far cry from the 1970s:
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