I kinda sorta get what they were trying to do. There's the tiniest seed of a worthy idea in here. But that doesn't excuse the ham-handed execution or the way they very unfairly put actual customers on the spot. You want to get set up for national humiliation when you're just trying to grab some lunch? Burger King is the place to go:
Now let me say at the outset: I think people should stand up for kids they see getting bullied, and it remains a major irritation for me that so many people prefer the "don't get involved" approach to such things. So I'm not unsympathetic to the point Burger King is trying to make.
But the way they do it is dishonest, obnoxious and completely unfair to their customers.
Let's start with the smashed-up burgers. What they've done here is intentionally engage in awful customer service, for the express purpose of provoking customer-service complaints. What's surprising is not that 95 percent of the customers complained. It's that 5 percent didn't. When you order a burger and it's served to you smashed to pieces, you're going to complain and you should.
But that was just the start. They then proceed to use the occasion of the perfectly justified customer complaint to hector the complaining customers about bullying, as if there is any equivalence between a mangled piece of food and a human being. The point they're trying to make is that people care more about "bullied whoppers" than they do about a bullied human being.
Garbage.
The fact that a person complains about poor service is in no way an indication of how they would react to a totally different situation. Like I said, I think people should stand up for bullied kids, and I would. But let's be honest: When someone is being threatened with physical violence and you step in, you're putting yourself at some risk of harm as well. I think that's a risk you should be willing to absorb if you can, but I don't know everyone's situation and I can't say in every case that it's inexcusable not to, however much I would like to see people do it.
When you get crappy food served to you, and you want to say something, that's not the same thing as putting yourself at physical risk to defend another person. Comparing the two situations and shaming people as a result is really awful.
Even worse is putting an unsuspecting customer in this position when they're just trying to come in and get some lunch. Why would you go to Burger King knowing that they might be using hidden cameras to embarrass and shame you over a situation they're staging? It's one thing if you want to do those idiot-on-the-street interviews where people can't name the vice president or the three branches of government. At least then people agree to be interviewed. Here, they have no idea what's going on. They're being set up. They're being misled and deceived, and then they're being shamed when they give Burger King the very reaction Burger King was trying to provoke.
This is no way to treat your customers. If Burger King wants to make a statement about bullying, and the importance of defending its victims, it should just do it. I understand that stunts like this will get you more attention, but what this one deserves is utter condemnation.
And believe me, Burger King's food isn't good enough to be worth the risk that you'll end up on one of these awful videos.
