The Burger King is a

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

character used as the primary

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as ...

for the fast-food restaurant chain of the same name. Throughout the company's history, the king has undergone several iterations. The first iteration of the Burger King was part of a sign at the first Burger King restaurant in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

in 1955. Later signs showed the King sitting on a "burger throne" as well as atop the BK sign while holding a beverage. In the early 1970s, Burger King started using a small and animated version of the King called "Kurger Bing" in its children's advertising, voiced by Allen Swift. In 1976, the original animated King was replaced by the "Marvelous Magical Burger King" which was a red-bearded and Tudor-era king who ruled the

Burger King Kingdom Since it was founded in 1954, international fast food restaurant, fast food chain store, chain Burger King has employed many advertising programs. During the 1970s, its advertisements included a memorable jingle, the inspiration for its current ...

and performed magic tricks that were mostly sleight-of-hand but sometimes relied on camera tricks or involved his "Magic Ring" which could summon copious amounts of food. The Burger King Kingdom advertisements were discontinued in the late 1980s in favor of the BK Kids Club Gang and other subsequent advertising programs. When

-based advertising agency

Crispin Porter + Bogusky Crispin Porter + Bogusky (also known as CP+B), a member of publicly traded MDC Partners, is an American advertising agency that employed around 700 people. It was founded in 1988 by Sam Crispin. Crispin then became partners with Chuck Porter ...

took over advertising of Burger King in 2003, they created a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

d rendition of the Burger King character from the Burger King Kingdom advertising campaign now simply called "the King". During the use of CP+B's new version of the King, ads generated significant

word of mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

for its new use of what various trade publications and Internet articles labeled "the Creepy King" persona, an appellation that BK came to favor and CP+B used in its ads. However, this iteration of the King failed to provide a consistent message regarding the company and its products, prompting the company to terminate its relationship with CP+B upon the takeover of Burger King by

3G Capital 3G Capital is a Brazilian-American multibillion-dollar investment firm, founded in 2004 by Alex Behring, Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira, Marcel Herrmann Telles and Roberto Thompson Motta. The firm is best known for implementing zero ...

in 2010 and announced the following year that the character would be retired. Five years later, the company brought back the King in May 2015 with a paid appearance as a member of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s entourage before the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. The next was an appearance in the grandstands at the 2015 Belmont Stakes, with the character standing behind

Bob Baffert Robert A. Baffert (born January 13, 1953) is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakn ...

, the

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

of American Pharoah. The King returned in 2017 and onward in commercials promoting the new "Mac and Cheetos" and flame-grilled Whoppers.

History

1960s–1980s

During the late 1960s to early 1970s, the Burger King was introduced as a small and animated king character in its children's advertising voiced by Allen Swift and known as Kurger Bing. Kurger Bing was featured in a series of advertisements in which he would visit a Burger King outlet for an interview with a television reporter or see a former court wizard who now worked for the chain. In all ads the King would present children with small gifts or buy them some Burger King food. Many of these commercials featured Kurger Bing reciting the restaurant's slogan, "Burger King, where kids are king!" Based on an investigative journalism report by news outle
CrunchFacts
in 1973, the Burger King met Cap'n Crunch, which launched various promotional collaborations between the two's respective brands. In 1976, Kurger Bing was replaced by the "Marvelous Magical Burger King" which was a red-bearded and Tudor-era king played by Dick Gjonola, who ruled the

and performed magic tricks that were mostly sleight-of-hand but sometimes relied on camera tricks or involved his "Magic Ring." The King was accompanied by usually two or more children and notable characters such as "Sir Shake-a-Lot" (a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

that has a craving for milkshakes), the "Burger Thing" (a

W.C. Fields WC or wc may refer to: * Water closet or flush toilet Arts and entertainment * ''W.C.'' (film), an Irish feature film * WC (band), a Polish punk rock band * WC (rapper), a rapper from Los Angeles, California * Westside Connection, former h ...

-esque hamburger portrait), "The Duke of Doubt" who often doubted the King's abilities and the robotic "Wizard of Fries". This campaign paralleled

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

McDonaldland McDonaldland is a McDonald's media franchise and the fictional fantasy world inhabited by Ronald McDonald and his friends. Starting with the creation of Ronald McDonald in 1963 it is primarily developed and published by McDonald's, initial att ...

children's commercials, which featured "

Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and ...

", "The Hamburglar" and "Mayor McCheese" among other characters and mascots. The Burger King Kingdom advertising campaign was discontinued by the late 1980s in favor of the BK Kids Club Gang ads. This version of the King returned in 2020 on a cameo in Cows Menu Commercial featuring his face in a Ferris Wheel. Kurger Bing.jpg, The animated version of the Burger King known as Kurger Bing used during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Magical Burger King.jpg, The Marvelous Magical Burger King used in the

commercials from 1976 to 1989.

2004–2011

After

-based advertising firm

(CP+B) took over advertising of Burger King on January 27, 2003, they began using a new

d iteration of the Burger King character who was simply called "the King". During production, an employee at CP+B found a 1970s'-era oversized Burger King head for sale on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

which was originally used as inspiration for brainstorming; it was eventually decided to restore the head and use it in a campaign. The King appeared in commercials for Burger King starting in 2004."The (Burger) King Is Dead". ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine. September 9, 2011. page 56. In this incarnation, the King is an unnamed actor who wears an oversized grinning mask that resembles the 1970s version of the King and who often appears in various unexpected places such as in bed with people or behind doors and walls, only to offer them Burger King food. Employing the advertising technique called

viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...

, CP+B's ads generated significant

for its new use of what various trade publications and Internet articles labeled "the Creepy King" persona, an appellation that BK has come to favor and CP+B uses in its ads. Due to sluggish sales and customer aversion, Burger King retired the 2000s version of the Burger King character in 2011 following a "food-centric" marketing approach. Burger King chief financial officer Josh Kobza explained that the reason behind the removal of the "creepy" character was because he "scare away women and children" from the chain. theoldking.jpg, An updated rendition of the Burger King character used in the advertising for Burger King Kids Club during the mid-2000s. The Burger King (2000s).jpg, The "creepy" iteration of the Burger King used from 2004 to 2011 and since 2015.

2015–present

The character returned when Burger King paid $1 million to have him included in Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s entourage for his May 2015 fight with Manny Pacquiao. The King then appeared in a Burger King commercial for the return of chicken nuggets in June 2015. Horse trainer

was paid $200,000 to allow the King to stand behind him in the grandstands during the televised broadcast of the 2015 Belmont Stakes, where American Pharoah won the Triple Crown. Baffert had turned down $150,000 to allow the mascot to appear with him at the

2015 Preakness Stakes The 2015 Preakness Stakes, (run as the ''Xpressbet, Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes'' due to sponsorship), was the 140th running of the Preakness Stakes, promoted as the "middle jewel"2018 Belmont Stakes The 2018 Belmont Stakes was the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes and the 107th time the event took place at Belmont Park. The race, known as the "test of the champion", is the final leg in the American Triple Crown. It is a Grade I stakes r ...

, he became the second trainer to win two Triple Crowns with Justify.

Advertising campaigns

Crispin Porter + Bogusky

In October 2005, Burger King began to sell

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

masks resembling the King and Burger King's

character the Subservient Chicken. There was little promotion on these masks, as Burger King's website had no link to the bkmasks.com website and no

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

were aired advertising them. Nonetheless, the masks quickly sold out, and some masks were also sold on

for hundreds of dollars. In October 2006, the masks were again sold for the Halloween season. Unavailable for some time, the masks are now available again through Burger King's online shop. Although the advertisements were mainly shown in North America, advertisements featuring the King surfaced on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

as well as in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in early January 2006. The King appeared not to catch on with the UK market and was seemingly retired there after only two brief commercials (featuring him at an ATM and as a pole dancer). However, he returned in summer 2006 as part of Burger King's ''

Superman Returns ''Superman Returns'' is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the sixth and fina ...

'' campaign. In September 2006, Burger King began reusing the animated King character known as Kurger Bing from the late 1960s and early 1970s on its cups, bags and in non-

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prop ...

kids' advertising. This new rendition of Kurger Bing is portrayed as a sarcastic type who sometimes gets in trouble for his mischief-making adventures and appears as a simplistic

hand puppet A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is controlled by the hand or hands that occupies the interior of the puppet.Sinclair, A, ''The Puppetry Handbook'', p.15 A glove puppet is a variation of hand puppets. Rod puppets require one of the puppetee ...

. In July 2007, the King appeared in several commercials promoting ''

The Simpsons Movie ''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American Animation, animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman (animator), David Silverman and star ...

'' as a ''Simpsons'' series character complete with the show's typical traits of four fingers, yellow skin and an overbite. The ad campaign for the BK Homestyle Melt sandwiches depicted a group of women, presumably mothers, who have attempted to kill the King through various means such as putting a hit on him or attempting to run him over with a car. It is implied this is done because the new products are moving in on the women's territory, home cooked meals. The character has appeared in the

promotion of the film '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'', commercials for a cross-promotions with the NFL and

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

's NFL Sunday Ticket sports subscription package. A further series of advertisements featuring Brooke Burke, which premiered during

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

, featured the King orchestrating an elaborate Broadway-style show called " the Whopperettes": women dressed as burger condiments and toppings in a

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Ai ...

type production. The "Have it your way" slogan and "Creepy King" comment also made its way into the lyrics. In a 2007 commercial to promote the restaurant chain's new Western Whopper sandwich, the King is shown in full royal attire against an obviously fake backdrop of a

Southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

, doing a jig-like dance to

banjo music Banjo music is a genre of music that consists exclusively, or primarily of, the banjo. Banjo music can be played as a solo, or it can be played with a band. Banjo music can be played with all types of banjos (four, five, or six string). History B ...

. His head is slightly modified so that he wears a

handlebar mustache A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy and upwardly curved extremities. These moustache styles are named for their resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a spaghetti moustache, because of its ste ...

in the style of the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

, and is juxtaposed with shots of Burger King customers who, upon consuming a Western Whopper, acquire similar mustaches regardless of age or gender. In 2007, Burger King introduced a television advertising campaign in which a Burger King restaurant in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

told customers that the company had stopped selling the Whopper sandwich. The ads showed the startled reactions of customers that Burger King would discontinue selling its most popular sandwich. A second round of related commercials showed actual customers who had ordered a Whopper instead being provided with a

Big Mac The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced in the Greater Pittsburgh area in 1967 and across the United States in 1968. It is one of the company's flagship products and sign ...

from

or a hamburger from

Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...

. After the customers complained to the Burger King restaurant manager, the King would emerge from the kitchen with a Whopper on a silver platter. In a 2008 commercial, which takes place in the

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...

, a

retro-futuristic Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

version of the Burger King delivers a new breakfast wrap to a person who is waking up. The purpose of the advertisement was to market Burger King's new Cheesy Bacon BK Wrapper. An animated version of the Burger King appears at the beginning of each episode of '' Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy'', sponsored by Burger King, bursting through the movie screen and trying to escape from some kind of danger behind him, such as angry jungle natives, a dramatic explosion, etc. In 2009, the Burger King advertised a Kid's Meal cross-promotion with

SpongeBob ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character ...

to the tune of " Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-lot. The lyrics are replaced by references to ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. The Kingons are used to advertise the 2009 ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' film. The advertising and related Kingon Defense Academy web site states that they are an illegitimate offspring between the King and a

Klingon The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids c ...

woman. The Kingons are a trio of two males and one female that all feature the plastic mask of the King modified with features of the later Klingons, namely head ridges and Fu Manchu mustaches on the two males and the King's crown on all three. In 2010, a second attempt was made to launch the King in the UK, with a series of TV and newspaper commercials, starting a few days before his launch, with sneak peeks accompanied by the tag "He's Coming".

NFL commercials

Beginning in 2005, commercials featuring the Burger King were created by digitally altering classic NFL game footage. The King is

superimposed Superimposition is the placement of one thing over another, typically so that both are still evident. Graphics In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to t ...

over players, making it appear as though the King was involved in the play. Some of the players the King has been imposed over include

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccane ...

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time", he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons ...

, and

Moe Williams Maurece Jabari Williams (born July 26, 1974) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL). He formerly played for the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens. He attended the University of Kentucky. High sc ...

(receiving a

lateral pass In gridiron football, a lateral pass or lateral (officially backward pass in American football and onside pass in Canadian football) occurs when the ball carrier throws the football to a teammate in a direction parallel to or away from the oppone ...

from

Randy Moss Randy Gene Moss (born February 13, 1977) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennesse ...

). He has also been depicted performing the

Lambeau Leap The Lambeau Leap is a touchdown celebration in American football in which a player leaps into the bleachers behind the end zone after scoring. The celebration was popularized after Green Bay Packers player LeRoy Butler jumped into the Lambeau F ...

and dumping Gatorade on the head of former

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

head coach

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...

. These commercials were referenced on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

program ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and o ...

'', when the King was facetiously dubbed an

NFL Rookie Of The Year Various entities present a National Football League Rookie of the Year Award each season to the top rookie(s) in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL considers the (rookie) of the year awards by the Associated Press (AP) to be its officia ...

candidate. In August 2006, a commercial debuted showing the King holding a press conference with his "

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

Drew Rosenhaus Drew Jordan Rosenhaus (born October 29, 1966) is an American sports agent who represents professional football players. He owns the Miami-based sports agency Rosenhaus Sports, and has negotiated over $7 billion of NFL contracts. Early life and ...

Video games

The first appearance of the Burger King in a video game is in the boxing game ''

Fight Night Round 3 ''Fight Night Round 3'' is a boxing video game developed by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to EA Sports' previous boxing title, ''Fight Night Round 2'', which was released in 2005. ''Fight Night Round 3'' was released on February 20, 2006, for ...

'' from

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

, starting with the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

release in February 2006. The King is available as the in-ring round guy, and later he is selectable as the player's boxing manager. In October 2006, Burger King announced that it would be releasing three video games for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

and

consoles, starring the King and other mascots such as the Subservient Chicken. In ''

Pocketbike Racer ''Pocketbike Racer'' is an advergaming title developed by Blitz Games for the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. On November 19, 2006, Burger King started selling it for an additional $3.99 USD ($4.99 in Canada) with any value meal. It is o ...

'', the mascots face off in a minibike race. ''

Big Bumpin' ''Big Bumpin is an advergaming title from Burger King for the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. published by King Games and developed by Blitz Games. On November 19, 2006, Burger King started selling it with any value meal. It is one of t ...

'' pits them against each other in a game of

bumper cars Bumper cars or dodgems are the generic names for a type of flat amusement ride consisting of multiple small electrically powered cars which draw power from the floor and/or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. Bumpe ...

and finally in '' Sneak King'', players control the King in a third-person perspective

stealth game A stealth game is a type of video game in which the player primarily uses ''stealth'' to avoid or overcome opponents. Games in the genre typically allow the player to remain undetected by hiding, sneaking, or using disguises. Some games allow th ...

where the King must sneak up behind hungry people and offer them Burger King products. Players are graded on how elaborately they deliver the food. The games were available at Burger King restaurants from November 19 to December 24, 2006. They were priced at each ($4.99 Canadian) with purchase of a value meal, and have each been rated "E for Everyone" by the

ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Ass ...

. All three received low ratings from various game critics. In 2008, a series of games were developed by

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

based mobile content provider Mobliss. The games, designed to run on mobile phones, were promoted in U.S. locations on menus and packaging. According to Mobliss, the goal of the first game is to become the King's protégé by facing challenges and progressing in the virtual world of a Burger King-themed city. The games could be purchased and downloaded using an

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

shortcode, and were available on all major US carriers that Mobliss had direct publishing agreements with:

Sprint Nextel Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it Merger of Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US, merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 ...

AT&T Mobility AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the th ...

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

Alltel Alltel Wireless was a wireless service provider, primarily based in the United States. Before acquisitions by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, it served 34 states and had approximately 13 million subscribers. As a regulatory condition of the acquisition ...

, and

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobil ...

References

External links

RetroJunk.com
A 1985 Burger King Kingdom commercial featuring the Burger King and the Duke of Doubt on Retro Junk.

The evolution of The Burger King
"Whopper Freakout" website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger King, The Burger King advertising Burger King characters Corporate mascots Fast food advertising characters Male characters in advertising Fictional kings Internet memes Mascots introduced in 1955 Fictional characters introduced in 1955