Hmong find BK's 'burger virgins' ad hard to stomach
Categories: Complaints
Are the Hmong in Northern Thailand--or "tribesman" who "don't even have a word for burger," really the "burger virgins" this Burger King commercial purports them to be?
TC Daily planet has a nice writeup on a Minnesota Hmong man's campaign to call BK out on its BS. The crux of his complaint comes from this section of the ad:
"What happens if you take remote Chiang Mai villagers who have never seen a burger? Who don't even have a word for burger? And ask them to compare a Whopper versus Big Mac in the world's purest taste test. The Whopper is America's favorite. But what will these people choose? The Whopper Virgins will decide."
"Really?" Seng Vang wrote to BK execs. "Do you really expect the 350,000 Hmong Americans in the U.S., some right in Miami where your headquarters is located, as well as in Boulder, Los Angeles, and London to believe that?
This is obviously a false, as the specific people in the ads (who are our relatives) HAVE seen burgers before, lots of it. Almost every Hmong Thai villages in Thailand have a TV. Thailand has how many BK franchises? How many commercials in Thai have these franchises run in the past several decades? Even the most remote Hmong villages in Thailand, like the ones in your ad, drive Toyota Tundras, talk to their relatives in St. Paul on their cell phones, and watch CNN and BBC on their satellite TVs. Never seen a burger? Pure fiction. Hmong villagers in Thailand aren't as backward or primitive as you want Americans or the world to think. This type of stereotype needs to stop! BK eating Hmong Americans demand it.
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