Entertainment
Top 10 Most Ridiculous Fast Food Commercials
Normally we only see ridiculous commercials during the Superbowl. But whoever said that was the only time we could experience laughable yet, questionable advertisements? Many companies have profited from a commercial that looks and sounds crazy. Here are the Top 10 Most Ridiculous Fast Food Commercials.
10. KFC I Love You, Colonel Sanders!
We all know Colonel Sanders as an older southern gentleman who founded the fried chicken franchise famous for its eleven herbs and spices. Before the resurgence of the new KFC commercials, featuring famous actors playing the role of Colonel Sanders, during the 1970’s, the Colonel managed to make himself a loveable spokesperson for his company appearing in many TV commercials. However, the Colonel doesn’t really look like the type of guy who would be featured in a video game. Well the good folks at KFC would disagree as they did indeed release a video game starring the famous Colonel. Unlike your typical commercial, the video game itself was the basis of this advertising campaign from KFC. The game is essentially a dating simulation game where, after a series of dates, the grand prize is Colonel Sanders himself. More research tells us that your character joins a cooking class run by the Colonel. You then have to use your wit, charm and hopefully learned cooking skills to win him over. So, you may be thinking: who wants to date Colonel Sanders? Well, the game certainly makes him look attractive. A younger, hipster type Sanders is the prize. He is skinnier, more flexible and his knife game is on point. One review described the game saying, “you’ll have to talk your way through three days at the cooking school with the Colonel and a colorful cast of characters, and at the end, you’ll find out if you managed to win the Colonel’s love.” The game only takes about an hour to complete but much like other adventure games, you can play it over again and experience different outcomes.
9. The Marvelous Magical Burger King
Burger King has definitely had some trippy commercials over the years but nothing takes the cake like the marvelous magical Burger King commercial. Where do we begin with this? We all know that the Burger King mascot is a descendant of burger royalty who completes his unique look with a crown, a cape and that memorable beard and head of hair. The BK mascot of today may be considered a little creepy by some thanks to his plastic head sitting atop his real person body. The odd thing is, he basically looked exactly the same in this commercial from the 80s, only without the plastic head. What he is doing in the commercial is…well, different. The commercial makes you feel like you have swallowed a magic pill. The King starts off as a drawing and then pops off the wall and comes to life. He is floating in the air talking to kids and making burgers appear out of an empty, floating Burger King bag. Everything about this commercial reads the wrong way. The burgers are talking and the fries look dry. There is absolutely no way a commercial like this would fly today. A bunch of kids with no parents around, following a man in a costume, and accepting food from him. Isn’t this everything they told us not to do as children? This commercial is making us rethink everything we thought we knew about Burger King.
8. Jack In The Box Mini Cowboys
There are a lot of people who think that the Jack In The Box mascot is just plain weird looking. He comes off as a creepy clown who’s head is beyond enormous. Jack In The Box doesn’t have many commercials anymore but when they did, well, apparently they were a bit odd. This commercial first appeared on TV screens in the early 2000s. It featured an average-sized person herding a group of cows. Then it cuts to a little person also herding cows but the cows are the size of small dogs. The commercial even has its own original song, which if we’re being honest, is kinda catchy. This could be the reason why the commercial did so well. The song makes reference to the cows being as small as schnauzers and being herded by someone close to their size. How in the world did they get away with an advertisement like that? The commercial was made to promote their new beef sliders. Get it? Small cows, small burgers. The most awkward part of the commercial was at the end when all the little people, the scary Jack In The Box mascot, and few of the small cows get together by the fire. They are playing guitar and singing that catchy tune. You just have to wonder how many sliders were sold solely based on this commercial?
7. Scary Colonel Sanders
This is the second time that Colonel Sanders and his finger-licking good chicken appear on this list. We’re not quite sure who the CEO of the company was back in the 60’s, but some of the commercials they released were downright terrifying. For decades people have been trying to find out the secret 11 herbs and spices that are used in KFC’s chicken. So, why not make a fun commercial about it? We could have predicted this but the commercial was creepy and should have never been played on TV. It seems as though the Colonel is kidnapped by two angry women who demand to know the secret. They hook him up to a lie detector and demand that he reveal the secret. The commercial only gets crazier as the Colonel gives wishy-washy answers and the women get more and more upset. We can see how bothered the women are and how not bothered the Colonel is. The commercial gets really dark when the camera pans out and viewers realize that not only is he tied up, he is also laughing maniacally as if he’d rather be tortured than tell his secrets. A little KFC cinema noire, if you will.
6. Dairy Queen’s Floating Lips
Does anyone else remember when Dairy Queen had those commercials with the talking lips? Sorry if we bought back haunting memories. These commercials were definitely trippy. Sometimes they even brought in other sets of lips or creatures to help sell their products – all to make you wonder if someone had spiked your lemonade. The DQ Galaxy Shake commercial is one that stands out. The commercial claims that the shake is the best in the galaxy. In order to prove that, they had some kind of green alien monster which was mostly lips and wings. He is so impressed by the shake that he explodes green guck everywhere. So let’s just recap before we go further. It seems like the Dairy Queen lips conned this alien into taking a sip of the shake and he ended up losing his life for it. What good does that do the company when no one is alive to talk about how good this shake supposedly is? Maybe this commercial wasn’t as well thought out as they assumed. Right before the alien, who’s name is Phil by the way, dies he basically goes berserk over the taste of this shake. His tongue is out of his mouth flapping in the air, his voice gets higher and higher and he looks like he is about to have a meltdown. Either way, he ends up as goo and no one lives to tell the tale of the greatness of the Galaxy Shake.
5. Burger King Snake Tongue
Burger King really seems to take pride in creating very weird commercials. You have to wonder what’s going on in that advertising department. This time around they wanted to make sure that everyone knew that their new Triple Whopper was… irresistable? This South Korean BK commercial follows a man who is about to enjoy his Triple Whopper for lunch. He remembers that he needs a drink and this is when his co-worker goes in for the kill. He stares at the Whopper from afar and flicks his tongue in and out of his mouth very quickly like a… well, like a snake. This human being begins to slither like a snake over to the Whopper. When he reaches the Whopper, his mouth opens up and slowly swallows the Triple Whopper whole. The screen widens to reveal the coworker, who is more terrified than he is upset that his lunch was stolen. There are just so many problems with this commercial. The shockingly all-white lunchroom, the awkward two silent coworkers eating as if they don’t know one another. Most of all, the fact that one coworker is basically a snake in human skin and is a hazard to everyone in the office. He certainly didn’t seem like he was able to control himself over a burger so what’s next? Better watch your lunch.
4. Wendy’s Grabbing Beef
Wendy’s has had a lot of memorable campaigns over the years. Most recently featuring the relatable Wendy. As much as we love them we also have to admit when they sometimes falter. They were extremely successful with the “Where’s The Beef” campaign. Remember the cute old lady who just wanted to enjoy a burger that was more meat than bread? When that got stale, Wendy’s followed up with the “Give A Little Nibble” campaign. If it doesn’t sound familiar don’t worry it was more creepy than memorable. It featured everyday random people who didn’t know one another grabbing at pieces of a giant burger. Just grabbing off chunks of meat and eating it. Oddly enough, the commercial wasn’t appealing to viewers. Hmm, we wonder why. Watching random people all grab chunks of meat off of the same burger is kinda gross. The commercial was so off-putting that Wendy’s pulled it after seven weeks and dismissed the ad team responsible for the mess.
3. McDonald’s Introduces Ronald McDonald
Having a mascot for your local fast food joint was the thing to do back in the day. All the greats had them including McDonald’s. Fortunately, for everyone today, mascots look considerably better than they used to way back then. When McDonald’s first introduced the kids to Ronald, their clown mascot, he looked terrifying. There is no better way to describe it. He was played by a famous weatherman named Willard Scott. His original outfit included a box tray of food on his head which contained a cup of soda. Ronald’s nose was a small paper cup that protruded so far out of his head it was rather unsettling. His striped yellow and red outfit is complete with a napkin for a collar and bib. He also looks to have a tray of food strapped to the front of his waist. The commercial is awful needless to say. He’s hopping around singing some sort of tune. The whole scene has a lot going on and becomes very distracting. At least we can be thankful today’s Ronald looks nothing like that. However, we have to give them points for coming up with something so creative for 1963. This turned the fast food mascot into a must for any restaurant franchise that wanted to promote and market their brand.
2. Burger King Wake Up With The King
For the last decade or so, Burger King has been using their mascot a whole lot. He appears in BK commercials sporadically and when he does show up, he always manages to bring the weirdness. We won’t focus on all of them because quite frankly there have been quite a few that have been troublesome. But here is one commercial that stood out as extra odd. The King wakes up in the bed of a young guy and passes him a croissant breakfast sandwich. The guy acts like this is totally normal and without hesitation, he takes the sandwich and eats it. The viewer then gets a close up of the sandwich with a voiceover that tells us what’s in the sandwich using a rather seductive voice. The two then proceed to laugh and talk in bed while the King and his giant head literally smile uncontrollably at the guy. The whole thing is just weird. The scene, the smile, the creepy giant plastic head. It’s all just… odd.
1. Jack In The Box Is… Gone?
Back in 1980 when Jack In The Box was trying to rebrand itself, they did something kind of crazy. Like a good television soap opera, the company essentially killed off their star. One of these commercials begins with a couple pulling up to the drive-thru window. They get to talking to the guy at the window and they want some answers as to why they are still using this creepy mascot. It’s important to note here that the couple looks to be a young, hip couple who knows what’s cool and what’s not. The man in the car questions the drive-thru worker about how Jack In the Box can say they are changing if he’s still there? He points to the plastic mascot behind them. The drive-thru worker says that by the time they get their food that thing will be gone. Uh, okay. That sounds kind of crazy. He hands them two sandwiches then they oddly ask him what they are. You can see why this makes no sense. Wouldn’t you know what you ordered? The commercial is trying to kill two birds with one stone. They introduce their new Chicken Supreme Sandwich and then they fulfill the promise of ridding Jack In The Box of its clown mascot. He gets shot off into the air like a rocket and everyone is happy. Well, everyone except Jack the clown. Another ridiculous thing that the franchise did to appear more hip and appeal to a younger generation was to abbreviate the name and simply call it The Box. This nickname could be interpreted a few different ways and luckily never really caught on. Jack in the Box finally saw the error in their ways and eventually did bring back the Jack the Clown mascot in the 90’s – a more modern, up to date version that was just as creepy and odd in a new kind of way.