• by Teresa Buyikian , January 18, 2024

Should an obscure, tiny island known for active, fire-spewing volcanic activity off the coast of Madagascar, change its name from McDonald’s Island to Whopper Island? Burger King Brazil certainly believes so, as shown in its new Whopper Island campaign launching this week.

The in-store, online and video mockumentary-style campaign, created by Brazil’s DM9, describes an actual IRL McDonald’s Island, an Australian external territory, actively volcanic and mostly barren -- and one of the most remote places on earth, according to Wikipedia. The uninhabited island takes two weeks to reach from Australian by boat.

Burger King Brazil’s rationale for the name change? “A place with real fire should be called Whopper Island,” according to a release.

The hero 2-minute video describes the island in detail complete with National Geographic-style shots of barren, frozen landscapes, Arctic animals and “an incredibly active volcano.” But the island is said to have one major flaw, “its name.” The superimposed copy blurs out the “McDonald’s” name, never mentioning it directly, but exclaiming, “The audacity. A place with real fire cannot be called BLEEP.” In true documentary fashion, copy over images of molten lava reads, “Burger King Presents…Whopper Island” with the island’s geographic coordinates below.

Over more images of fire and lava, the voiceover continues: “The name… the cheapest form of irony.”  The uninhabitable place’s only two inhabitants, the island keepers, are shown mysteriously receiving (via drone) a delivery of Burger King Whoppers. “We brought them the one thing they can’t get at BLEEP. A flame grilled meal.” They too begin to contemplate the validity of the island’s name (as McDonald’s does not flame-grill its burgers) and begin a name-change campaign.

“If anyone deserves a hot, fire-grilled burger, it’s this team that takes such good care of our volcanoes,” joked Juliana Cury, CMO of Burger King Brazil ,in a release.

The video concludes with a call to action for customers to search Google Maps for “IlhaWhopper” and comment on the name change using #IlhaWhopper to claim Burger King discount vouchers.