Burger King is in some hot water after an unusual ad was released in Russia, that suggested the fast food franchises food is better than drugs.
According to the Moscow Times, the television clip with the slogan "The time of poppies is over!" starts with a picture of a cheeseburger falling on a poppy flower. Ad Age provides translation of the accompanying voiceover. The voice-over in the clip explains, "This is a poppy. It was popular once, but now it's time has passed," before going on to praise the burger's ingredients.
The poppy flower, in which its seeds are used to create many forms of narcotics, including opium and heroin, is meant to symbolize a bad habit, Burger King Russia's marketing director Ivan Shestov wrote in a company statement released Wednesday. The burger is crushing that habit and replacing it with its food The Moscow Times reported.
According to the Moscow Times, poppy translated into Russian is mak, a name that has become synonymous with Burger King's rival McDonald's.
Now the fast food company has yanked the ad from its YouTube channel. Leading Russian television stations have refused to air the full version of a Burger King ad that appears to pitch the fast food chain's product as an alternative to opiates.
The channels TNT, CTC, Rossia 2, NTV and Perets have refused to show the full ad, arguing that it contradicts their editorial policy, Lenta.ru reported. They will instead show a revised version. REN-TV, 2x2 and Disney have decided to run the full clip.
Despite the ad's removal by Russian television stations, Burger King Russia is still promoting the spot on its website.
Burger King opened its first Russian restaurant in January 2010 and now has 115 restaurants in major cities across the country. The franchiser Burger King Rus plans to open several hundred more restaurants over the next few years, according to Moscow Times.
