You might have already seen the video already, but if you haven’t…..
This video, which certainly seems like it was conceived during an acid trip or, at the very least psychedelic mushrooms, is to promote Burger’s King’s decision to try to reduce the flatulence of their cows to reduce greenhouse gases by changing what the cows eat.
Yes, those are real words I just typed. And I immediately thought about Ron White’s pledge to solve this issue the easy way: by eating the cows.
Believe it or not, this is actually a serious issue. There are a lot of cows. The cows produce excess gas, either going out the front or going out the back, just like all animals do. There are a lot of cows on this planet, either for dairy or for consumption purposes. So there are a lot of gasses going into the atmosphere directly from cows.
To their credit, Burger King and their parent company released a very long and detailed scientific explanation of all of this. Here’s the key takeaway:
Adding lemongrass to the cows’ diet has shown no impact on the taste or texture of the meat in our Whopper. We continue to deliver on our delicious flame grilled flavor that our guests have come to know and love
I’m sure we’ll actually see about that. Honestly, I haven’t eaten at Burger King in a long time (at least for lunch)so I have not had either a Whopper or the Impossible Whopper recently. So it might be difficult to compare exactly what the difference will be once these new “lemongrass” Whoppers make it to me.
So is this something that is going to change the world? No. Is it something that will drastically change the burger wars? I’m sure that at some level Burger King will sell more burgers, between the novelty of the “lemongrass” burgers, the advertising campaign, and the fact that so many people want to virtue signal their environmentalism.
But will it have a long tail? Yes, probably. How many places do you see these days that are offering locally sourced beef, or plant-fed beef, or various other varying shades of beef that is perceived “healthier?” It’s a lot. Whether it’s for taste, for environmental concerns, or just being a hipster, people really want to buy this stuff. There will be people who are more than willing to buy a Whopper with more “environmentally friendly” ingredients, even if it costs a few more bucks.
And that’s why Burger King is doing this. The environmental reasons are all well and good, but Burger King is trying to sell burgers and get a leg up on McDonald’s. There is a perception among some that Burger King is better at marketing than they are at making food or generating sales. Perhaps that’s true; I certainly don’t go out of my way to eat at Burger King (nor do I at McDonald’s, whereas I long for an In-n-Out or a Whataburger within 100 miles of me). But while the changing of the food and the acid trip video are themselves marketing stunts, there is likely going to be a serious and real economic benefit to Burger King for doing is. There will likely be an increase in sales and will likely force changes at competitors who will likely adopt this and other environmentally sustainable changes to their menus in the future.
I’m guessing nobody else though will launch it with a video that looks like…this.
you talkin bout Burger Concierge?