Advertising is a funny old game.

Have you succeeded if people are talking about your campaign, regardless of whether the feedback is good or bad?

If you said yes, then you’d regard Clover’s recent ‘smurf’ commercial as a success, and I would have to disagree with you.

At least, in that case, the criticism generally came from sharp-tongued social media users, but with Burger King’s latest advert, they may have upset the wrong people.

In the advert, the fast food chain encourages farmers to change their cows’ diets, in order to reduce the number of greenhouse emissions.

That’s a euphemistic way of saying reducing how much methane gas cows release, through farting.

Here’s the BBC:

Burger King claims adding lemongrass to cow diets could ease digestion and dramatically reduce methane emissions.

But farm leaders say the ad is “condescending and hypocritical”.

The ad has been trending on YouTube. It has so far been watched by more than 2 million people and drawn thousands of comments – some mocking the firm’s “yodelling boy” marketing gambit, with others swearing to cut ties with the chain

Fancy some yodelling up in here on a Friday? Let’s see this advert, then:

Quite a trip, that.

Part of the backlash is due to the fact that the advert stands accused of making light of what is, and always should be, a serious topic of discussion.

Just ask Professor Frank Mitloehner of University of California Davis (UC Davis)’s Department of Animal Science:

IT’S. NOT. THE. COW. FARTS.

Nearly all enteric methane from cattle is from belching. Suggesting otherwise turns this serious climate topic into a joke.

Reducing methane is a HUGE opportunity. That should be a goal. But we shouldn’t trivialize it for trendy marketing. #COWSMENU https://t.co/BjZMsWACUb

— Frank Mitloehner (@GHGGuru) July 14, 2020

Lobby groups like The Cattlemen’s Beef Association were also critical, saying Burger King was trying to “score easy points with consumers by launching a misleading public relations campaign”.

But wait, what about the influencers? Enter cattle farmer and influencer Michelle Miller, also known as Farm Babe, who is calling for a Burger King boycott:

Fire your marketing team, @BurgerKing. You’ve lost my business & everyone else responding to your disgusting, ludicrous ad. @Aginspirations @AGDAILYMedia @BuildUpRDNs @foodscibabe @drdairy50 @drsplace @beefrunner @petefarmbros @BeefCheckoff @KnowIdeasMedia @farmdaughterusa https://t.co/W4iTkSe5j6

— Farm Babe (@thefarmbabe) July 14, 2020

She wasn’t done, either:

Ms Miller said farmers are committed to doing their part to reduce emissions, but cattle are being used as a scapegoat for bigger problems.

She criticised the gas masks worn by the children in the video as a form of “fear-mongering” .

For a company whose business is selling burgers, she added, the concerns seemed out of place…

“They act like we’re just a bunch of bumbling hicks and they’re not appreciating what we do,” she said. “Bring us up, don’t put us down.”

Thankfully, in amongst all the drama, she found time to smash a cornfield selfie:

Cornfield selfies never get old. pic.twitter.com/kwIvjBw09t

— Farm Babe (@thefarmbabe) July 15, 2020

One must always, always, make time for cornfield selfies.

Your move, Burger King.

[source:bbc]