http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/burger-king-takes-aim-fcc-net-neutrality-rollback/171344
Jan 24, 2018 12:34 PM ET
Burger King Takes Aim at FCC Net Neutrality Rollback
Edgy video uses Whopper 'slowdown' to slam ISPs
By John Eggerton
Burger King has weighed in to the net neutrality debate with an edgy video
attempting to use restrictions on burger orders to illustrate criticisms of the
FCC's vote to eliminate network neutrality regulations against slowing or
blocking internet traffic or prioritizing delivery. In a video posted by the
Fast Food franchise on YouTube and tweeted from its Twitter account.
Burger King employees are shown withholding or delaying orders to mimic slowed
broadband access to illustrate what they call Whopper Neutrality, and mbps
speeds ("making burgers per second"), to the anger and consternation of
customers.
It riffs on the paid prioritization the new FCC rule revamp would allow, with
BK attempting to charge $26 for a priority Whopper delivered faster.
One of the servers portrayed in the video explains: "Burger King Corporation
believes they can sell more and make more money selling chicken sandwiches and
chicken fries and now they are slowing down the access to the Whopper."
The video ends with the tagline: "The internet should be like the Whopper. The
same for everyone," then "change.org/savethenet," then a tweak at FCC chair
Ajit Pai's now-famous ever-growing Reese's coffee mug, with the Burger King
drinking from a similar, oversized, mug.
"We believe the internet should be like BURGER KING(r) restaurants, a place
that doesn't prioritize and welcomes everyone," said Fernando Machado, Burger
King Global Chief Marketing Officer of the new campaign, which promotes the
product as well as the public policy. "That is why we created this experiment,
to call attention to the potential effects of net neutrality."
Burger King was encouraging "all guests," which is what they called their
patrons, to "support Net Neutrality by signing the petition at
Change.org/SavetheNet."
(https://www.change.org/p/save-net-neutrality-netneutrality).
Net neutrality activist group Public Knowledge circulated a link to the video
in a release saying AT&T's call--in a newspaper ad--for an internet Bill of
Rights fell short. "Burger King's new video demonstrates how the American
public is likely to be ripped off now that we've lost these rules," it said.
Free Our Internet, which avidly supports the FCC's network neutrality rule
rollback, was not amused, though it got into the spirit of the satire.
"Burger King's latest attempt to take on a complicated policy issue outside of
its own industry reeks of desperation almost as badly as its Cheetos chicken
fries," said executive director Christie-Lee McNally. "The only Whopper here is
that Burger King is grossly misleading consumers into the realm of fantasy by
suggesting a totally fictional internet pricing regime. In its video, Burger
King not only embraces socialist concepts, but it actually makes an underlying
promise to consumers to deliver all orders at the same speed; we should hold
them to that. Perhaps Burger King's time would be better spent on working to
reduce the 36 percent obesity rate in this country rather than hawking its 37g
fat-Whopper under the guise of "net neutrality."
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