Burger King reveals all 2019 ads featured lurking Big Mac

Burger King has claimed that it hid a McDonald’s Big Mac behind every Whopper appearing in all of its ads in 2019 – a stunt designed to highlight the greater heft of its signature burger compared with that of its rival.

The fast-food chain and its agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty London, put a Big Mac behind every official appearance of a Whopper, spanning TV, out-of-home, print and in-store marketing activity.

Burger King has compiled a video illustrating the ruse.

While it is undoubtedly a pithy stunt, it does not strictly speaking prove that the Whopper is larger than its rival. Because of the way perspective works, any item placed behind another item the same size would be obscured in a photo taken directly from the front. For example, a Whopper placed behind another Whopper would also be obscured.

For a slightly more in-depth explanation of perspective, please watch this video:

Ian Heartfield, BBH’s outgoing chief creative officer, said: "Placing our competitor's product in our own ads throughout 2019 without anyone knowing has been one of the most fun ideas we have ever executed. It is of course just a good old-fashioned product comparison idea, but it's been brought bang up to date by some lateral thinking and rebellious media behaviour. We're loving it."