Burger King takes a twist on classic commercial food photography with this timelapse of a moldy whopper
Feb 27, 2020
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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There are so many food photography tutorials teaching us how to make food look as good and as appetizing as possible. But Burger King decided to challenge the classic food commercials we’re all used to seeing. They claim that “the beauty of real food is that it gets ugly.” So, they filmed a commercial showing a Whopper as it gets nasty and moldy over time.
I find the beginning of the timelapse pretty interesting, not just its ending. At the very beginning, we can see that food stylists use some tricks for making a burger look more photogenic. They don’t use the nasty ones though, at least not that we can see. When the Whopper is ready, it’s just left to sit there for over a month, with beautiful studio lighting and a clean black background. And as time goes by, it becomes all green with mold. Yuck!
So, what’s the point of this commercial? Why would you want to see a nasty, moldy burger? Well, Burger King has rolled out a Whopper that’s free from artificial preservatives. “Isn’t it beautiful?” the company asks. They want to point out that preservative-free food will spoil over time, so they decided to film the process as a part of their ad. And maybe, just maybe, they wanted to troll McDonald’s a bit. But no matter how unordinary (and pretty gross) the ad is, I think it’s a brilliant idea and a very smart marketing move. How do you like it?
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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34 responses to “Burger King takes a twist on classic commercial food photography with this timelapse of a moldy whopper”
Makes me NOT want to ever eat a Whopper now….
I agree.
Lisa K Larson so you rather eat a big Mac that never decays?
it’s the only alternative
I don’t think there is any REAL proof that the Big Mac people claim didn’t decay is real.
Either way, neither one is good for you in large quantities. But seeing the mold on the Whopper just makes me ill.
I went out to eat my first Whopper after seeing the ad. I suppose it worked. Made me feel like I was eating less preservertives.
Why does it say my spelling is wrong. Preservertives
Because that IS spelled wrong. Should be “Preservatives” — note the “va”, not “ve”
Preservatives
Danny Madison ohhhhhh
Preservatives
I’m going for a whopper! ??
Yep, that couldn’t possibly backfire.
Showing me rotting food will not make it more appealing. I hate BK so I may be biased.
I think, if you’re selling food, you should never disrespect your product or show it in a way that could be thought of as unappetizing.
yeah, but there’s the other side of it, the burger so packed full of preservatives it’s incapable of breaking down.. or for another example “frozen dessert” (aka fake ice cream) that doesn’t melt.
Alexander L. Harris I understand the intent of the ad. I just think it’s a bad idea BECAUSE you need explanation and context.
I personally really like this campaign. I like how bold it is. Burger King is such a massive company that something like this won’t hurt them, so the risk probably wasn’t very high. I get that you shouldn’t show your product in an unappealing state, but I think the alternative, a burger jam packed with preservatives, is far more unappealing. Plus those images look so good/gross.
great ad,because a Big Mac never gets mould,not even in 1 month
Lost my appetite. I didn’t watch it to the end but the song was what a different day makes. My thought was something is wrong if that happens in 1 day. Showed my husband and he saw the text at the end. Understand the concept but it’s a big gamble. And I like Burger King.
that’s a time lapse over 34 days, not one day.
Alexander L. Harris it would have been more clear when they had a day counter somewhere showing the progress in time. Not just the beginning and end
Wim van der Geest agreed.
Kudos to Burger King, they brave enough to make noise. Especially compared to their competitors with flat and dull messages year after year.
At my age I need all the artificial preservatives I can get.
I think its great, decay is a natural part of life and it shows our body’s should be able to digest it.
But their customer service is as natural and authentic as their plastic king character.
Interesting concept but terrible as an advertisement. After the ad is over I should be more hungry, not less.
Well played Nando’s!
Cheap. I eat food before it rots. Well shot but it doesn’t make me hungry!
Here’s a pumpkin time lapse https://vimeo.com/370025432
at the start, it makes me hungry, the ending makes me laugh. still, I want to eat that whopper burger.
I would never understand why ppl eat this. Maybe it’s cause I’m not in America cause y’all way of life is pretty must always busy but I rather go home and cook, wash lime and season my meats.
Literally just this morning my contractor showed me a Burger King Whopper he found in his truck that he never finished before he left for Thailand for a month+. The burger/bun is completely mold-free and the meat doesn’t even smell bad, its just dried out. Clearly Burger King must have switched to the preservative-free version after he left for Thailand. Trying to attach photos but Disqus won’t let me…