Burger King’s tagline Be Your Way has a meaning that goes well beyond the food combinations and customizations available, to how the home of the Whopper welcomes diversity and inclusion. Now Burger King’s newest TV commercial for the Brazilian-market features some of that country’s disability firsts.
For the first time on Brazilian TV, an audio description was incorporated into a commercial in a primary broadcast. Spoken in Portugese, the audio description opens with “At Burger King, Eduardo, a blind Caucasian male, wears a cardboard crown.” An audio description is a voice over that describes what is seen in the video to help blind and visually impared viewers gain a better understanding of what is on screen. Typically this is accessed via Secondary Audio Programming, or SAP, but Burger King incorporated the audio description as a creative component, further differentiating the ad.
Eduardo’s casual camaraderie takes center stage in the commercial as he excitedly describes the flame-grilled flavors, feel of the buns and he throws in a casual expletive tied to the great taste.
In an Adweek article, marketing and sales director for Burger King Brazil, Ariel Grunkraut, shared that “we constantly strive to make everyone feel that they belong, feel they are free to be who they are, with respect for individualities.” Ad agency David SP, based in Sao Paulo spearheaded the campaign.
This Burger King ad portrays a person with a disability in a positive light, and it moves the needle forward for representation of people with disabilities in advertising. But, there are some potentially negative considerations to bring up. First, Eduardo, is featured by himself in the ad, and while that puts disability front and center, some might suggest based on disability studies and mass communication theory that this continues an already estranged othering and segregation of people with disabilities. Second, because Eduardo is by himself and the camera and script intently follow him eating, some may see this portrayal as inspiration porn, or objectifying the disability. To offset these points, the creative team could have considered a group of people in the commercial with Eduardo leading the conversation among diners around the table. Third, since there is no indication that this ad is part of a larger campaign featuring people with disabilities the ad feels a bit more like a one-off gimmick than a longstanding commitment. Fourth, and this goes beyond the ad, but Rafael Donato, David Sao Paolo’s vice president of creative who spearheaded the ad shared that “although blind, Eduardo doesn’t see his disability as a handicap. Quite the opposite.” I wish Mr. Donato had chosen a different phrase other than “doesn’t see his disability.”
All that said, Burger King’s disability representation in this advertisement has garnered significant positive publicity, and for the most part, I’m in support with some future considerations for upcoming BK ads or for other creative teams to consider in developing positive portrayals of disability in advertising.
Hearing Eduardo’s talk about the flavors and feel of the Whopper connected with me because I’m blind and have low vision and I rely on people describing menu options. My hope is that this commercial will lead to similar disability representation in other Burger King advertising across the globe.