Pandering to Pride – Gay Whoppers and Questions for Ronald

Pandering to Pride – Gay Whoppers and Questions for Ronald

In the process of researching a previous post regarding Dr. Pepper and their strange fetish for aluminum can-based anal sex, I ran across another batch of advertisements pandering to pride in a similar vein. Two of the largest burger chains in the world, Burger King and McDonalds, once released a reportedly successful pro-LGBTQ+ advertisement campaigns that I never saw.

Granted I’d rather spend my money on beer than fast food and don’t have cable, but you’d think word of mouth from one of the handful of people who still talk to me would have posted a meme or something.

Back in 2014, Burger King released the Proud Whopper in San Francisco, California. The rainbow wrapped burger coincided with the year’s Gay Pride Parade.

Though it garnered the usual criticism of pandering to pride from people opposed to such endeavors, it created positive results from those who support the movement and The King of Burgers. My personal preference is for the King of Rock n’ Roll, but to each their own.

The Proud Whopper (I can visualize the “proud whopper” as a movie featuring none other than Jonah Falcon!); generated 7 million video views with their ad campaign along with 450,000 blog mentions, and became the number one trending topic on several social media sites. When it was done, Burger King had received the equivalent of $21 million dollars of free advertising. 

They clearly knew how to have it “their way”.

This all came from one store in California, which, considering how rare it is for the people of that state to even look at meat, much less consume it, is a pretty impressive feat (feat; NOT feet!).

Granted, none of that advertising appeared on my radar at the time, but good on them for a successful campaign for one of America’s propagators of an obesity and food wastage epidemic.

Not every campaign created by these media behemoths is successful. Just ask the guys who came up with the new “Not everyone is Happy – Meal” boxes!! Designed to tease McDonald’s Happy Meals and partner with Mental Health month, you had a choice of the Pissed Meal, Blue Meal, Salty Meal, YAAAS Meal and DGAF Meal. I’m not kidding.

Following up the previously successful Whopper ad, Burger King changed their laughably inaccurate slogan of “Have it your way” (I’d like a pound of ground beef from the grocery store, thanks) with a more progressive “Be Your Way” (a cranky underpaid writer who drinks too much and can’t afford a PS4, thanks.) and as usual, the wise guys at Fox News got their bubble pipes in a knot and started whining about the downfall of Western civilization, which is hilarious because everyone knows that happened with the fall of the Roman Empire.

Responding to the sad fact that the same people who watch Fox are also the same people willing to consume Burger King of their own free will, the company changed the slogan to a more neutral “Your Way” (or the highway, I guess.) This is the slogan they’ve kept as of the time of this writing, proving once again the power of biased (“bi-assed”) media against corporate… something.

Not to be left out of the game, the other big name in burgers, Bob, I mean, McDonald’s, released a fry container with a rainbow pattern as part of their commitment to Prideful Irish folk. Since their fries are probably one of the least likely things on their menu to kill you, it was a good choice for the ad campaign. Since the McDonald’s promotion was not limited to one store in one city, McDonald’s took heat from across the board – as a company who was both pandering to pride and trying to convince the young that being gay was ok. 

Once the gay ad hit, online photo-shoppers created the most memorable faux-ad that I will likely not forget. 

First, “M” with an upside-down “M” which becomes a “W”, to represent heterosexual sex (M+W). 

Then it used the rounded McDonald’s famous letter “M”, and place it with another “M”, to represent gay-male sex (M+M). 

And finally, two upside “M”s together, which would be two “W”s, indicating lesbian sex (W+W).

It is amazing what kids sitting at home with too much free time on their hands and their dad’s copy of Photoshop, can do to shape societal norms.

Again, I never saw one, but as readers may have garnered from this article, I do not consume fast food. I do enough to my body as is, thanks.

The disconnect between Dr. Pepper’s fetishism and the Two Wise Burger Guys (which is three guys short of Five Guys! I hope people get that joke … ) actually producing thoughtful and supportive campaigning is either a sign of changing times or just another indication that fast food is slowly taking over the planet.


In the end, even if it is pandering to pride, it provided a positive, open atmosphere for all to express themselves for the betterment of all humanity. Granted, I consider can-based anal sex on about the same level as fast food, but it’s the thought that counts.  (You should probably read my Dr Pepper article if you don’t get the reference!)

Corporations may be destroying the world with pollution and plastic, but their media efforts are a powerful force to be reckoned with, and the Burger King himself is a powerful and mysterious “demigod” being clearly of fae origin.

To have him joining the fight for LGBTQ+ rights is definitely an advantage, regardless of what certain media outlets or soda products might state.