During the premier episode of The Office I caught a commercial that stood out. It started out like a typical fast food commercial would. Especially a commercial coming from Burger King whose famous for it’s “have it your way” ads. It starts out showing people as they are ordering at a drive thru. Everyone has a specific request for the item they are ordering, “ketchup only, can you half the fries?, hold the onions, etc. (See how it sounds just like your typical “have it your way” Burger King commercial?) Then the screen reads “VOTE 2008″ just as the announcer says “Just as Burger King restaurant guests aren’t afraid to ask for what they want, so voters need to speak up for their choices.”
I have to say that ad caught me by surprise. It definitely got my attention and I have to say I don’t see this type of advertisement often. Usually companies who are spending big advertising bucks are spending it to advertise themselves, not advertise something else, and certainly not to advertise a human right. So the commercial has stayed with me and I have since discovered that Burger King has a website HaveItYourWay08.com which links to RockTheVote.com, a website where you can register to vote. (I’m very impressed). Then I stumbled upon this article which explains that Burger King also put out ads to vote during the 2004 election which featured well known celebrities encouraging everyone to vote. This year the burger chain doesn’t have celebrities but it does have voting polls on two major social websites, Facebook and MySpace, which could appeal to a variety of people.
The best quote and reason why is this one from Burger King Vice President of Marketing Impact, Brian Gies, “At its core, the Burger King brand promise is all about empowerment and choice, and there is no better time than a national election to reinforce the importance of exercising the ultimate choice—the right to vote.”
So what are you waiting on? Get out there and VOTE! And if you haven’t registered yet, it’s not too late in some states. In Texas, Monday will be the last day to register. Register, do your homework by researching the issues and the candidates, and then head out to the voting booth on November 4th.
