Don't be a clown

This is an advert by burger king advertising the opening of a new store. The message is a very simple and effective one to potential customers clearly referencing their main rival McDonalds and their clown mascot Ronald McDonald. Apart from mocking the mascot of their competitor it also displays the good value of their flagship burger the whopper. The advertisers here are using the technique of contrast to present their food in a way that you may not have thought about before. The advert appears to offer a choice to the audience, you either eat like a clown, or eat like a king with us! By first offering the choice of ‘eating like a clown’ this presents Burger King in a much more favourable position when they propose eating like a king with them, a presumably favourable option. The message is also very short but effective, Petty and Cacioppo (1984) found that when the level of involvement in the message was high a shorter argument was more cogent, and the chances are many people seeing this advert will be hungry so involvement is quite high. The use of humour is also well placed likely to make the audience remember the advert, possibly tell other people and even associate the positive feeling with Burger King. This advert will at least make most people smile or chuckle and Calvin P. Duncan, James E. Nelson, and Nancy T. Frontczak (1984), found that humour in advertising promotes message comprehension thereby making the adverts message stick with you even more. Toby Watson References Calvin P. Duncan, James E. Nelson, and Nancy T. Frontczak (1984) ,"The Effect of Humor on Advertising Comprehension", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 11, eds. Thomas C. Kinnear, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 432-437. Petty, Richard E.; Cacioppo, John T. (1984), “The effects of involvement on responses to argument quantity and quality: Central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 46(1), 69-81.