Burger King is asking customers if they’d rather stand up for a bullied child than a bullied burger in its latest advert.
Filmed in the style of a hidden camera show, the fast food chain ‘bullied’ a Whopper burger while a young teen was being bullied in the restaurant.
The aim of the experiment was to see who would intervene about their burger being messed about with, and who would step up to defend the child.
It is all in aid of National Bullying Prevention Month in the US, which raises awareness about the damage of bullying throughout the month of October.
According to nobully.org, 30% of children are bullied each year in the country.
No JR. deserves to be bullied, yet 30% of students worldwide are bullied each year. For National Bullying Prevention Month, we built an experiment to showcase just how often bullying is ignored. Visit nobully.org to learn more.
Posted by Burger King on Tuesday, October 17, 2017
According to the advert, only 12% of those in the restaurant stood up for the child being bullied, but 95% complained about their burger.
Reaction to the video was pretty unanimous online, with people sharing the video along with messages of hope.
Ok…this is one fantastic PSA. And I don’t care how much publicity Burger King gets. They deserve it for this one. https://t.co/KXDt9grI1O
— helen henderson (@cbchelen) October 20, 2017
Props to @BurgerKing for this ad. Be someone who cares more about the people sitting around you than the burger sitting in front of you. https://t.co/lcwzKdLk5Q
— Micah Rumsey (@MicahRumsey) October 20, 2017
Some called for other companies and institutions to take note.
This makes me wanna give @BurgerKing all my money ??? https://t.co/uvK1xwlbLF
— Big SpOoKy Vert Ⓥ (@Kvng_DJT) October 20, 2017
Why the hell is Burger King doing better than all of the schools I went to.
— wade wilkins (@theWadeWalterW) October 20, 2017
Good job, Burger King.