In the U.S., Burger King is known for in-store confrontations involving coupons. Elsewhere in the world, its coupons are the centerpiece of increasingly-creative advertising campaigns that are mercifully free from violence.
In Brazil, the fast-food chain has introduced what might be its most unusual coupon promotion in a long string of them, this time catering to those who have a little too much eggnog or otherwise celebrate a little too much at the holiday office party.
It’s the “Hangover Whopper” experience, where you can earn a coupon that increases in value depending on just hard you partied the night before.
The restaurant chain has set up a website that invites you to upload a selfie of your morning-after face. The site then uses facial recognition to gauge the severity of your hangover – the worse it is, the more valuable the Burger King coupon you’re offered.
“At the end of the year, it’s Friday every day,” an ad promoting the campaign explains. So the Hangover Whopper experience “scans your hangover level, and offers a discount on the ideal combo to help combat it.”
Of course, you’ll have to decide whether opting in to facial recognition and sharing an image of yourself at your worst is worth a discounted Whopper to you.
But don’t think too hard about it, Burger King would probably advise – if you don’t want to participate, don’t drink or don’t find yourself in need of a hangover cure this holiday season, you’ll likely get a chance to participate in another unusual coupon promotion – particularly if you’re in Brazil.
Last year, Burger King Brazil offered a “Burger Glitch” promotion, which invited fans to spot various bugs and glitches in its app in order to earn coupons. In 2020, it offered a free Whopper on Halloween to anyone who showed up on a broomstick. A year before, it ran an odd Halloween-themed promotion featuring a coupon disguised as a utility bill (the connection made sense, somehow, to Brazilians). That same year, Brazilian Burger King fans could use their app to set competitors’ ads on fire just like Burger King’s flame-broiled burgers – point your phone’s camera at a print ad or billboard for, say, McDonald’s, and watch virtual reality flame engulf it. And Burger Kings around the world similarly trolled the restaurant’s main competitor, and its clown mascot, back in 2017 by offering a free Whopper to customers who dressed as a “creepy clown” for Halloween.
Many of these odd promotions have been the brainchildren of the DM9 advertising agency, which praised its partner for being willing to go where few others have. “It is a privilege to have partners like Burger King, who use boldness, innovation and irreverence as essential ingredients and are willing to put brand actions like this into practice,” DM9 co-president Icaro Doria said in a statement.
Here in the U.S., unfortunately, Burger King is better known for arguments, fights and arrests involving coupons than it is for creative coupon campaigns. But leave it to Burger King Brazil to capitalize on its customers’ bad behavior and turn that into an ad as well. During the Covid pandemic, when many of its stores were closed for in-store dining, the chain reminded late-night diners what they were missing by not being able to visit its restaurants, by producing an ad called “Late Night Stores,” featuring a video compilation of customers behaving badly in various Burger Kings. The goal of the ad was to promote Burger King delivery, which offered “the best of BK without the worst of BK.”
As for the Hangover Whopper experience, it runs from now through January 2nd, so those who ring in the new year with a lot of liquid refreshment and find themselves in rough shape as a result, can take advantage of the discount offer one more time.
And if you happen to find yourself in Brazil in the new year and experience a craving for Burger King, don’t settle for paying full price – an even more unusual coupon campaign will likely be along any day now.
Image source: Burger King
