Burger King Mocks the Creative Power of AI With These Wonderfully Ridiculous Commercials

“The Whopper lives in a bun mansion—just like you.”

Unless you’re Sir Mix-a-Lot, that’s probably not literally true. But hey, when your ad’s copywriter is an artificial intelligence, you have to give it some credit for trying to connect with us weirdo organ-sack humans.

Burger King’s newest TV ad campaign claims each spot was “created by artificial intelligence,” an explanation that precedes some truly bizarre voice-overs, such as, “Bed of lettuce for you to sleep on, bed of mayonnaise for extra sleep,” and, “Burger King logo’s chicken is the new potato.”

In a statement announcing the campaign—which will air during prime time on cable networks including MTV, History, TBS, Adult Swim and E!—the brand refers to as the creation of “a new deep learning algorithm that could give a glimpse into what the future of marketing and communications could look like.”

Is that true? No. It’s all one big joke at AI’s expense. But the laughs are real:

“AI, bots, machine learning, deep learning algorithms, blockchain, among others—these are all topical as we explore our future in marketing,” says Marcelo Pascoa, Burger King’s global head of brand marketing. “But we need to avoid getting lost in the sea of technology innovation and buzzwords and forget what really matters. And that’s the idea. Artificial intelligence is not a substitute for a great creative idea coming from a real person.”

The real people behind the ad are the creatives at agency David Miami, the shop behind several of Burger King’s most popular marketing stunts, including “Whopper Neutrality” and “Google Home of the Whopper.”

Congratulations, humans of David. You’ve staved off marketing’s machine uprising for at least a few more days. Use your time wisely, for when the robots come, they will not remember you fondly.

CREDITS:

Agency: DAVID/Miami
Managing Director / Global COO: Paulo Fogaça
Executive Creative Director: Ricardo Casal
Executive Creative Director: Juan Javier Peña Plaza
Senior Art Director: Jean Zamprogno
Senior Copywriter: Fernando Pellizzaro
Art Director: Andy Tamayo
Copywriter: Alexander Allen
Copywriter: Nellie Santee
Creative Coordinator: Cristina Cornejo Ayala
Head of Global Production: Veronica Beach
Producer: Kelly Allen
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Barbara Karalis
Head of Account Management: Carmen Rodriguez
Account Director: Stefane Rosa
Creative Consultant:
Keaton Patti

CLIENT: Burger King
Global Chief Marketing Officer: Fernando Machado
Head of Global Brand Marketing: Marcelo Pascoa
Sr. Brand Manager of Global Marketing: Rogelio Magaña
Head of Marketing for North America: Renato Rossi
Marketing Communications Lead for North America: Diego Suarez
Advertising and Merchandising for North America: Nicole Alevizos
Media for North America: Madeline McDermott
Digital for North America: Flavia Guetter

EDITORIAL: COSMO STREET
Editor: Jeff Grippe
Assistant Editor: Andrew Corrales
Producer: Kacie Gomez
EP: Yvette Cobarrubias

RADIO + AUDIO: BEACON STREET STUDIOS
Mixer: Amber Tisue
Mix Assistant: Aaron Cornacchio
Senior Mix Producer: Kate Vadnais

PR: ALISON BROD MARKETING + COMMUNICATIONS
Senior Vice President: Brooke Scher Mogan
Director: Adrianna Lauricella

DIGITAL: MULLENLOWE Boston
Executive Creative Director: Dustin Johnson
VP, Account Director: Kerry McKibbin
Account Supervisor: Alison Whisenant
Account Executive: Caroline Bailey
Strategy Director: Mike Cassell
Social Media Strategist: Jimmy George
Content Writer: Arielle Mulgrew

MEDIA: HORIZON
Assoc Brand Group Director: Stephanie DeFlora
Supervisor: Grant Askin
Activation: Joan McDermott, Traci Rosen

David Griner

@griner

David Griner is creative and innovation editor for Adweek. He's been covering agencies, creativity, technology and marketing innovation for more than a decade and is host of Adweek's podcast.