Will artificial intelligence take over the advertising business? Not any time soon, at least judging by Burger King’s latest ads.
The Miami-based burger chain is “testing a beta version of a new deep learning algorithm that could give a glimpse into what the future of marketing and communications could look like” with ads “created by artificial intelligence.”
In other words, the company used robots to create its latest ads. The results are hilariously creepy. Burger King said the final scripts for the ads will appear on television on Monday.
One, “Whopper Friend with Creepy King Doctor,” shows two friends wearing Burger King crowns eating Whoppers.
The ad says, “Interior. Burger King. Whopperland. We see two friends. They are happy. They are two. They live forever. ‘I want to grow up to be Whopper.’ ‘I wish I was Whopper instead of doctor.’”
The commercial follows the June creation of an “Olive Garden commercial” by Twitter user Keaton Patti that was similarly strange and robotic. Patti was a creative consultant on the ad.
“Artificial intelligence is having an increasingly relevant role in many industries, and creative advertising isn’t the exception,” Burger King said in a release.
The company said it used “high-end computing resources and big data” to train an artificial neural network with pattern recognition capabilities by analyzing “thousands of fast-food commercials and competitive reports from industry research.”
The company said the algorithm “was able to discover intricate patterns and gather insights for strategic and effective communication.”
Such as this line, from the ad “Chicken Sandwich Crossing Encouraged”:
“The Chicken Sandwich from Burger King. Tastes like bird. BK logo appears.”
Or this line, from “Whopper Mansion Title”:
“The Whopper lives in a bun mansion. Just like you. Order yourself today.”
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