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The Burger wars are a series of off-and-on comparative advertising campaigns consisting of mutually-targeted advertisements that highlight the intense competition between hamburger fast food chains McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and others in the United States. The term first came into use during the late 1970s due to an attempt by Burger King to generate increased market and mind-share by attacking the size of bigger rival McDonald's hamburgers.

By the mid-1980s, the constant spending on advertising began to affect the major players. In 1987, Burger King laid off more than a hundred people from its corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida, while Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's reported its first quarterly operating loss since its founding in 1969. Conversely, McDonald's operating revenue and profit increased while its market share also grew. Smaller chains, such as Hardee's, worked to keep from getting caught up in the extensive financial brinkmanship by avoiding the expensive ad campaigns and by staying in smaller, more geographically limited locations.

The New York Times states that the poor economy of the late 2000s and early 2010s recessionary period led to the return of the Burger Wars. Because of tightened budgets, consumers have been forced to seek value and the major fast food chains are in increasing competition for consumer dollars. The Wendy's chain has been at the forefront of the revival, airing a series of ads that feature founder Dave Thomas's daughter Melinda Lou Morse, the original "Wendy", advertising a series of new burgers and reviving its Where's the beef? advertising slogan. A March 2014 report in USA Today noted that Burger King is reviving the Burger Wars, including introducing clones of the Big Mac and McRib sandwiches, in response to business declines at McDonald's.

Modern examples

In a 2007 advertising campaign, Jack in the Box aired a series of television ads in the United States that disparaged several rivals' Angus-beef burgers in which it was alleged that they equated Angus beef with an anus. Rival chain operator CKE claimed the ads were misleading because they confuse consumers by comparing sirloin, a cut of meat found on all cattle, with Angus, which is a breed of cattle. CKE, operator of the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains, had been noted for running controversial ads and claimed that there was no comparison between the ads they were running and those of Jack In the Box because their ads did not insinuate their products came from an undesirable part of cows.

Because of their similar preparation styles and menus, the expansion of Five Guys into the territories of its Los Angeles-based counterpart In-N-Out has been described as a newer version of the Burger Wars by several publications.

Breakfast Wars

The entry of Taco Bell into the breakfast fast-food business in 2014 for its United States locations triggered a related phenomenon known as the "Breakfast Wars", particularly between Taco Bell and McDonald's. Taco Bell rolled-out its breakfast menu by soliciting testimonials from people named Ronald McDonald, a move to which McDonald's responded by providing free coffee for a two-week period. Similarly, McDonald's Canada recently began offering free coffee for a week during Tim Hortons' "Roll Up the Rim to Win" campaign. Taco Bell's new value menu Dollar Cravings was instigated in reaction to McDonald's and Wendy's value menus.

Burger King's McWhopper proposal

On August 26, 2015, Burger King released an open letter to McDonald's proposing a joint promotion for Peace Day called the "McWhopper", a combination of the two restaurants' signature burgers. The overture was rejected by McDonald's, a response that drew mostly criticism for its tone and the sense of a missed opportunity. Despite the missed opportunity, President Barack Obama declared it a breaking point in the "Fight for $15" movement, reportedly saying that the "McWhopper" was an example of how American fast food corporations can learn to unite for a common cause, and he hoped it could be further utilized as a springboard in raising the minimum wage for uneducated fast food workers. McDonald's later released a commercial directed by comic filmmaker Mel Brooks to much critical acclaim, showcasing the charitable efforts of characters Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar along with the promised effort to renew the "Fight for $15".

On September 1, 2015, Burger King announced that they had been approached by representatives from Denny's, Wayback Burgers, Krystal, and Giraffas about partnering on a similar project. Burger King then announced the "Peace Day Burger", which would feature ingredients from all five restaurants' burgers.

See also

• Fast food advertising
• Chicken sandwich wars
• Coffee wars – sales and marketing tactics initiated by coffeehouse chains
• Cola wars – similar type of competitive advertising programs between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
• Console wars
• Format war
• Smartphone wars
• Browser wars
• Tar derby

References

1. "McDonald's Corporation". Funding Universe. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2011. A period of aggressive advertising campaigns and price slashing in the early 1980s became known as the "burger wars."
2. Romeo, Peter (1988-12-19). "Brinker: a man with a vision". Nation's Restaurant News. Archived from the original on 2013-01-13. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
3. Lubow, Arthur (1998-04-19). "Steal This Burger". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved 2007-12-04. Fast-food veterans surveying today's cutthroat competition will be reminded of the First Burger War
4. Shriver Jr., Jube (6 May 1987). "Burger Wars Taking a Bite Out of Profit". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2011. The nationwide burger wars, waged mostly in multimillion-dollar television commercials, are hitting some hamburger chains on the bottom line--forcing layoffs and losses.
5. Hum, Scott (25 October 1993). "Hardee's: Back to Its Roots". Adweek. Retrieved 15 January 2011. And it kept its head down during the 'Burger Wars' of the early 1980s, when Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's took on each other in expensive network TV battles.
6. Elliot, Stuart (25 September 2011). "After 27 Years, an Answer to the Question, 'Where's the Beef?". New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
7. Friedman, Nicky (March 19, 2014). Burger King hits McDonald's where it hurts Archived 2016-05-12 at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
8. "Burger wars: Jack in the Box sued over ad". NBC News. Associated Press. 29 May 2007. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
9. Ta, Lien (6 May 2011). "Los Angeles Burger Wars: Five Guys Versus In-N-Out". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
10. "L.A. Burger Wars". National Association of Convenience Stores. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
11. Horovitz, Bruce (March 29, 2014). Breakfast wars perk up: McDonald's pours free coffee Archived 2017-02-13 at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
12. Moran, Andrew (March 2, 2011). "Coffee war: McDonald's free coffee v. Tim Hortons Roll Up the Rim". Digital Journal. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
13. Sacks, Brianna (18 August 2014). "Taco Bell is latest chain to offer a dollar menu - LA Times". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2014-08-24. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
14. Tuttle, Brad (August 18, 2014). "Taco Bell Breathes New Life Into Fast-Food Dollar Menus". Money.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2022. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
15. Patton, Leslie (15 August 2014). "Taco Bell to Introduce Dollar Menu Nationwide - Bloomberg". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
16. Lutz, Ashley (15 August 2014). "Taco Bell Dollar Menu New - Business Insider". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
17. "McWhopper". Mcwhopper.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
18. "McDonald's - Dear Burger King, Inspiration for a good..." Facebook. Archived from the original on 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
19. Duprey, Rich (31 August 2015). "McDonald's Makes a McWhopper of a Mistake in Response to Rival's Offer". The Motley Fool. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
20. Connelly, Tony. "McDonald's rejects Burger King's proposal to partner up on McWhopper". The Drum. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
21. "Burger King on Tumblr — It looks like we're going to need a bigger table ..." Burgerking.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2016-02-08.

• 1970s in the United States
• 1980s in the United States
• 2010s in the United States
• Burger King advertising
• McDonald's advertising
• Food rivalries