Burger King baffled and infuriated people with its ad starring Andy Warhol
- Burger King's Super Bowl commercial starring Andy Warhol left many viewers confused and annoyed.
- The commercial uses footage from a 1982 film in which Warhol calmly eats a Whopper from Burger King.
- When originally filming the scene, Warhol reportedly asked for a McDonald's burger instead of one from Burger King.
Burger King sparked confusion and backlash with a Super Bowl commercial starring Andy Warhol.
The minimalist commercial shows the artist eating a Whopper. Not much else happens in the quiet ad that concludes with the message: "#EatLikeAndy."
Read more: Here's the full list of all the Super Bowl commercials we know about
For many, the commercial was more confusing than anything else.
Here's the backstory: The footage is from a four-minute, 20-second scene called "Andy Warhol Eating a Hamburger," which debuted in Jorgen Leth's 1982 film "66 Scenes from America," AdAge reports.
Warhol was fascinated with iconic American brands, but reportedly preferred McDonald's to Burger King. When Warhol arrived to be filmed eating the hamburger, Leth said that the artist asked, "Where's the McDonald's?" Apparently, Warhol preferred McDonald's design.
A Burger King representative said in an email that the commercial was supposed to speak to Warhol's quote: "What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest."
However, the message did not shine through for many people watching the Super Bowl.
The commercial was rated one of the five worst that aired during the Super Bowl, according to viewers surveyed by consumer-intelligence platform Suzy.
Burger King netted more than 11,000 social media mentions throughout the Super Bowl, according to Brandwatch. The conversation around the commercial was mixed, with 55.5% positive reactions and 44.5% negative.
The fast-food chain uploaded all four minutes and 20 seconds of Warhol eating the Whopper online.
Here's the full Andy Warhol Whopper-eating experience:
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