Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Saturtainment: The Marvelous, Magical Burger King (1976)

After years of the animated Kurger Bing, Burger King decided to switch and introduced their namesake, who was a magician by trade (played by actor Dick Gjonola), who would represent the restaurant chain for 13 years (1976-89).

By the end of the 80's, the magical Burger King was phased out in favor of the Kids' Club, only for a new incarnation to appear years later, a new actor in a mask resembling Gjonola's look, but silent.

In this spot from 1978, the Burger King introduces kids to Sir Shake-a-Lot:

2 comments:

Silverstar said...

No prizes for guessing, Burger King created their magical monarch as a direct attempt to counter-punch McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald. His bizarro court would extend to include such characters as the Duke of Doubt, Sir Shake-A-Lot, the Wizard of Fries (who was in fact, a robot) and the Burger Thing (a foam rubber burger with a face on a picture frame who told bad jokes). Like wow, man.

hobbyfan said...

And they didn't last very long, though the King did stick around to the end of the 80's.