The Burger King
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"The 1970s Burger King was rather down-to-earth and somewhat amusing. Today's king looks more like a perverted and creepy moving sculpture who engages in porno."
—YouTube user kti05hnu58
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Burger King, the fast food establishment, isn't all that trope-worthy on their own. They're the second-largest hamburger chain in the United States, they have a global presence, and they're subject to several stock parodies, along with their major competitors.
That said, they've also created an advertising icon — "The" Burger King. And he's a whole other story entirely....
The Burger King started off humbly enough. He was Burger King's answer to Ronald McDonald, and he appeared in both live-action and animated forms. He came off as a bit of a Cloudcuckoolander, but was otherwise benign. However, he was quite forgettable and quickly faded into obscurity.
Fast forward a few decades, and Burger King decided to bring their mascot out of mothballs. This time, though, he became... much more disturbing and adult. Now a guy in an obviously plastic mask right out of kigurumi and royal finery, he started appearing in ads aimed at adults. By appearing where you probably weren't expecting him. Like at a construction site. Or pole dancing. Or, most famously, in your bedroom. Simultaneously disturbing and amusing, the ads took off.
How much so? The Burger King managed to work his way into three different video games (granted, made specifically as an in-store promotion, but still). He's also managed to become a pop culture icon, of sorts—you can buy the mask. He's had the occasional YouTube Poop appearance, too. There's also his... interesting... new video about SpongeBob SquarePants. Disturbing, hilarious, or some combination thereof, he's certainly memorable.
As of 2011, Burger King has decided to retire the mascot.
Not to be confused with the King of Rock 'n' Roll, the King of Pop, the King of Controversy, the King of Dots, the King of Town, the King of All Cosmos, the King of All Media, the King (MAH BOI), the King of Dinosaurs or the King of WWE, though they all enjoy their DINNER.
- Anything That Moves: Men, women, sponges... Is there anything he hasn't made overtures towards?
- Characterization Marches On: Compare the early versions of him to the current one.
- Double Entendre: Meat... on top of meat... on top of meat!
- ET Gave Us Wi-Fi: As part of a Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen tie in, with a Cybertronian King who gave the secret to delicious hamburgers to Burger King founders Keith J. Kramer and Matthew Burns in 1953 in exchange for a place to live. Naturally, he transforms into a broiler.
- Gender Equals Breed: In one commercial, he is shown with a human wife and daughter, and a son who has a mask for a face.
- Hey, It's That Guy: Many have remarked on the King's similarity to Howard Eskin
- I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: One of the UK adverts has a man craving burgers, after being offered one by the King, making the King look like a drug dealer on top of everything else that is wrong with the mascot.
- Mars Needs Women: The Star Trek tie-in: "My Star Trek collector cups! Why don't you just take my girlfriend, too? ...Great."
- Should note, there was a female Kingon, so it was more of a "Sure Why Not."
- Mentos Finger
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Various movie tie-ins have given us Kingons, a Deceptiking (or maybe an Autoking, we can't tell), and an Iron King.
- Notable Commercial Campaigns: People do tend to remember these ads. No matter how hard they try otherwise.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: An ad where The Burger King steals the blueprint of the Egg McMuffin from McDonald's HQ has him wearing a hoodie and a literal paper mask (that looks identical to his regular face).
- The Power Of Egg And Meat And Cheese And Meat And Cheese!
- Refuge in Audacity: Some of these ads seem like an attempt to see what you can get away with in television advertising. This perhaps reached its apex in the aforementioned SpongeBob kids meals ads, in which an edited version appeared after Watershed, and the unedited version is only available on YouTube.
- In a recent commercial for his new breakfast something-or-other, the King breaks into McDonald's HQ and steals their breakfast something-or-other. The narrator himself even says as much. And we're just supposed to accept this.
- For an old McDonald's ad decrying the Croissanwich with the song "The Great Pretender", this is Hilarious in Hindsight.
- In a recent commercial for his new breakfast something-or-other, the King breaks into McDonald's HQ and steals their breakfast something-or-other. The narrator himself even says as much. And we're just supposed to accept this.
- Rubber Forehead Aliens: Kingons!
- Shout-Out: In the very funny spoof of the Twilight trailer, Bella says that she's only afraid of two things: losing Edward, and "that Burger King guy -- he really freaks me out."
- Slogans: Wake up with The King!
- Stepford Smiler
- Uncanny Valley: The older incarnations avoid this, but the latest version seems to be invoking this intentionally.
- Zoofights: The king has not actually appeared, but one of the contestants, the revamped Burgertherium, at one point was fitted with his mask to hide what had been done to his face. It came off during the fight; the readers never saw it, but the spectators did. Quoth one: "That face is... ugh... if my remaining biological systems had the ability to vomit, I would be doing so right now."