New Burger King Superman Returns toys cleverly promote excercise.

June 26, 2006 1:32 AM

New Burger King Superman Returns toys cleverly promote excersise.Not just another merchandise tie-in, this new toy promotion lets you get off your butt and compare with other kids' walking times and throwing records online. Each toy is either a physical activity or an accesory for your workout. The site even features Superman's personal scores, allowing all of us to compete with the Man of Steel.
posted by johndog (30 comments total)

From the very top of the page;
HEY KIDS THIS IS ADVERTISING!

That should be written on everything.
posted by iloveit at 1:53 AM on June 26, 2006

Now what about something like this instead?
posted by randomination at 2:02 AM on June 26, 2006

posted by pruner at 2:09 AM on June 26, 2006

love the sunglasses
posted by lemonfridge at 2:09 AM on June 26, 2006

Actually, if there was a fiery pit of hell reserved for everyone in advertising, then whoever made it about exercise and the guy who put in the 'Hey kids this is advertising' probably deserve a slightly cooler spot than most.

They should still burn though.

BURN.
posted by Swandive at 2:27 AM on June 26, 2006

BURN!
posted by slater at 2:33 AM on June 26, 2006

posted by fleacircus at 2:52 AM on June 26, 2006

Excercise
Excersise
Exercizzle
Exercise

Kids need spelling lessons too.
Burn!
posted by slimepuppy at 4:14 AM on June 26, 2006

Could do with some exercise after a whopper with cheese, eh? You want to supersize that?
posted by Meatbomb at 4:42 AM on June 26, 2006

If one of the Elder Statesmen of MeFI had posted this link, they would've included a number of interesting tidbits to balance things out for an effective, discussion-worthy FPP. Frinstance, the toys are intended for kids and collectors of Superman memorabilia, but in addition to DC Comics (subsidy of TimeWarner) earning revenue, Texas Pacific, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs pull in a Whopping quarter of the tie-in revenues (see, I made a funny - Whopping, get it?), as the three revenue groups are partial shareholders of Burger King Holdings Incorporated. Now, that's how you'd make a cool post with a low noise ratio.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:10 AM on June 26, 2006

Smart Dalek: That's an FPP post I would definitely enjoy. Get on that, ok?
posted by boo_radley at 5:14 AM on June 26, 2006

This is a complete new direction for a fast food maker, so I'm leaving this up here. It's funny how McDonalds is still reeling from Fast Food Nation the book and Supersize Me the movie. I bought a Filet O' Fish the other day and the bag had people doing yoga on it and talked about their new light salads. I saw the grown up happy meals that came with a pedometer.

We've been hearing about obese kids in the US for a couple years now and this is the first mainstream thing I've seen the fattening industry do to try and help stop that. Also, the "HEY KIDS THIS IS ADVERTISING" is hilarious.
posted by mathowie at 5:38 AM on June 26, 2006

OMG PEPSI BLUE SINGLE-LINK FPP WTF SUMMON CEILING CAT AHHHH

OK, now that that's out of the way, what an interesting development. Just a few years ago the idea that fast food companies would market not-terrible-for-you stuff was a joke. Now they're putting real effort into it, and even doing relatively honest marketing towards kids. Maybe we have turned some kind of corner, fatness-wise, in the US.

"Hey Kids, This Is Advertising"-- terrific.
posted by ibmcginty at 5:50 AM on June 26, 2006

Toss and fly, looks like a urine sample cup.
posted by doctor_negative at 5:57 AM on June 26, 2006

Re: McDonald's reeling from past bad press.
Ha, the most disturbing part to me was going to one in an airport (US) last month and seeing that the nutritional info is now on every package. Worse, reading the info on the fries and thinking "hey, they're not nearly as bad as I thought they would be..."
posted by whatzit at 6:29 AM on June 26, 2006

Did the nutritional info on the fries say "Contains 6 servings" ?
posted by randomination at 6:31 AM on June 26, 2006

Well, I can't get anything to happen on that page, just a menu with a blank space background. So I'll just have to feign disgust.
posted by puke & cry at 7:10 AM on June 26, 2006

Buckin chicken.
posted by ninjew at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2006

I kinda want that sweatband. Too bad I don't want any Burger King food.
posted by blendor at 8:07 AM on June 26, 2006

Just a few years ago the idea that fast food companies would market not-terrible-for-you stuff was a joke.

Just a few years a go, all the Burger Kings and McDonalds had salad bars. Or was that a regional thing? Anyway, they lasted a few years, then disappeared. Hygeine concerns, I think.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:48 AM on June 26, 2006

Be it far from me to comment on the propriety of FPP'ing advertising. That said, this is the work of a company in Miami called Crispin Porter Bogusky who really do amazing things. Remember the Ikea 'Lamp' spot by Spike Jonze? CPB. The launch of the Mini Cooper in the USA? CPB. Subservient Chicken? CPB. Now they're doing those whacked VW ads with the teutonic feller. The point being that even if advertising sucks - and it mostly does - there are a few people out there doing really interesting, groundbreaking stuff.
posted by hobocode at 10:21 AM on June 26, 2006

How about a voice chip in that pedometer, so it can say "Congratulations, you have walked off ONE BURGER"?

(...probably not very often though)
posted by Artw at 10:36 AM on June 26, 2006

Because, Artw, the batteries for that chip would expire long before the chip spoke, what, twice?

As for advertising being really interesting, groundbreaking stuff - so what? They're not innovating for the sake of innovation. Advertisers innovate because they want more of us to buy more of the stuff they're featuring, and they'll do whatever it takes to get some attention. Entertainment? Heck, anything that'll work, really. Talking frogs, hand puppets, cartoon camels - anything that'll sell the product. Who watches the Super Bowl for the 14 minutes of actual game action per hour, when you can instead watch the 60+ minutes of high-grade, innovative advertising? Why else would Super Bowl ads sell at 2.5 to 2.6 million dollars per 30 second spot, on average? They've got an audience tuning in, in part, because they know the really innovative advertising is shown here. It's one of the few times folks voluntarily watch ads, and so the ads are really interesting (and really expensive to both produce and show.)

I don't mind this, as I live in a capitalist society. Let them keep innovating. They keep trying to attract my attention, and I keep trying to avoid them. So be it - the game is fun.

What I do mind is that, because innovation is failing them, they're taking steps to force me to watch their advertising. Lobbying DVR makers, chatting with the FCC, trying to ensure my eyes stay glued on their stuff. Heck, once they're sure they have my enforced attention, why innovate? We have to watch it anyway, right?

Innovative torture is still torture.
posted by FormlessOne at 12:29 PM on June 26, 2006

the nutritional info is now on every package

I noticed that on my dollar meal items, and think it's a great improvement.
posted by smackfu at 1:32 PM on June 26, 2006

Because, Artw, the batteries for that chip would expire long before the chip spoke, what, twice?

Seems reasonable enough for kids these days, 2 burgers worth of calories is a LOT of trips from the frontdoor to the SUV.
posted by Artw at 1:53 PM on June 26, 2006

This is your second of two posts about the new Superman movie. I bet you're pretty excited about it johndog. Can we expect more posts informing us of innovative new promotional techniques and trailers? I can't wait.
posted by euphorb at 2:42 PM on June 26, 2006

Well, there's always the DVD and computer games to promote to inform us about. I eagerly await the next single link post to a corporate informative website.
posted by slimepuppy at 2:54 PM on June 26, 2006

That said, this is the work of a company in Miami called Crispin Porter Bogusky who really do amazing things.

Yes. Most amazingly of all, they manage to get their advertising onto MetaFilter time and again.

Burger King owes Mathowie a few free meals, IMO.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:00 PM on June 26, 2006

What I do mind is that, because innovation is failing them, they're taking steps to force me to watch their advertising. Lobbying DVR makers, chatting with the FCC, trying to ensure my eyes stay glued on their stuff. Heck, once they're sure they have my enforced attention, why innovate? We have to watch it anyway, right?

Innovative torture is still torture.
posted by FormlessOne at 12:29 PM PST on June 26 [+fave] [!]

So true.
posted by Radio7 at 1:24 AM on June 27, 2006

So be it - the game is fun.

Well, I personally find the operation of the machine to be odius.
posted by Citizen Premier at 1:39 AM on June 27, 2006