The King.

I was totally surprised and questioned the reason behind the 360 games. I didn't really understand the reason for them. At the time I thought it was kind of ridiculous to me, but I also thought that "The King" was on some kind of cool streak. I never thought about what it meant for "The King" to have the large head mask thing. The ego interpretation was a great thought, I think I agree! "The King" is just to cool to speak words.

First a clown, now a man with a plastic face, forever frozen in a wide-grinned stare. I'll agree that, as far as making people think about BK and giving the impression that their food is top notch. However, I personally think that the king as a visual representation, and to a lesser extent, some kind of a pop icon, was poorly designed and ill-conceived. I'm talking mostly about the mask and the starchy, creepy expression carved into it, but in other ways as well.

The king is emotionless. He expresses nothing, as his body movement and hand gestures are locked into the few actions that the commercial director allows, and his facial expressions are impossible because he wears a mask. Also, he doesn't talk, relying instead on a silver platter and various sandwhiches to make his intentions clear.

I'm glad that BK is pompous enough to think that their brand needs no words to be introduced, but it seems like such a failure in terms of communication, which should be the point of advertising. When you eliminate verbal languages as well as facial expression, you lose two of the most fundamental and effective forms of human communication. It just escapes me why they thought that doing this would be a great idea for a mass marketing ad.

http://www.thegreenhead.com/imgs/burger-king-halloween-mask-4.jpg
http://storage.msn.com/x1p4JHjVbcjTC_NCVgWiWlIGPUnbTH-43FqAjpzcoN9DvLWhL...
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2006/10/3/5488

Yeah I had never really picked up on why the king's head was soo big...I like the ego analagy

Whats interesting about the king like you have mentioned is that he says absolutely nothing, but still has a devote following. who ever came up with marekting idea has really done their homework and come up with something that Burger King will be able to use for the next 10 years or even more!

I'm just glad they didn't use a weird lookin clown

I actually think the face of the king says plenty where verbal words simply fail in terms of delivering a message to the target audience, and actually I think that's the focal point for the advertisements.

Namely, he's disturbing with purpose. The given context seems to be something freaky, like waking up next to the King, who obviously seems to be "waiting," or is outside your window like some kind of stalker. Yet he's always portrayed with his ironic smile, and from this I feel the actual context isn't meant to sell anything--it's just meant to grab your attention, THEN sell you something with the help of the announcer. Kind of a cheap shot, but it works. I'm glad it does too, as I'd hate for fast food lobbyists to make more efficient arrangements via law that would have the first thing I see in the morning be a mascot offering me a cheese-coated heart attack wrapped in bacon with a crazed smile...while he's in my bed.

These commercials never fail to put a smile on my face. You can't deny the effectiveness of these commercials as it pertains to getting our attention and relaying a message. He IS funny and thats that, you've got my attention. He's there to save the day with a burger when you are hungry, no matter where you are. I think that is another huge point of these commercials - that Burger King is always there and is always the best choice. Before these commercials I can't even remember what Burger King was trying to do to promote their food. The simple fact that we are talking about it now just strengthens their position.

I love the King. I played the Sneak King game that they made, and it was pretty fun (and obviously ridiculous). I almost beat it too, but they made some random mission in the middle of the game super hard. The best commercials that they've made about the King are by far the football commercials. Some ideas I have are: the King plays Jeter when he runs across the field to make an amazing flip to Posada to nail Jeremy Giambi at the plate. Another idea is the King is Pete Rose in the All-Star game when he plows the catcher. Both of these would be awesome because in both plays the King would come in unexpectedly just like in the football commercials. Maybe the King as Jeffrey Mayer (sp) stealing a fly ball??? The King picking up Dusty Baker's son during the World Series? The possibilities are endless.