- Burger King is trolling McDonald's yet again in a clown-themed Halloween marketing ad effort.
- The burger chain is offering customers wearing clown costumes free Whoppers this Halloween.
- The tagline of the campaign is "Come as a clown, eat like a king."
Burger King and McDonald's may be arch rivals, but this Halloween, the King seems to be extending an olive branch to Ronald McDonald.
Burger King is looking to capitalize on the popularity of clown costumes on Halloween by making clowns the center of its cheeky marketing campaign on the dress-up holiday - in a not-so-subtle dig at McDonald's.
The fast food chain is offering free Whopper burgers to customers who show up at its restaurants wearing clown costumes on Halloween.
The brand has created a 90-second digital ad to tout the offer and is also encouraging guests to post their scary clown costumes and tag the brand @BurgerKing with the hashtag #ScaryClownNight. The tagline for the campaign is "Come as a clown, eat like a king."
"We don't usually talk about clowns," said Alex Macedo, President, North America, at Burger King. "But for this Halloween, come dressed as a clown to eat like a king."
The offer is valid only for the first 500 clowns that show up at select Burger King restaurants across Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, Austin and Salt Lake City that are hosting what the restaurant brand is calling the "Scary Clown Night" between 7 pm until they close.
This is not the first time that Burger King has trolled McDonald's. Just this month, Burger King took over a screening of the Stephen King horror film "It," posting the phrase "The moral is: never trust a clown," before the end credits rolled.
Last year as well, Burger King took a jab at its rival on Halloween by dressing up one of its restaurants in New York as McDonald's.