Burger King and rivals will give away 'Peace Day' burgers without McDonald's
Would that governments were as tenacious about promoting peace as is Burger King. Rebuffed by McDonald鈥檚, Burger King has accepted the overtures from others and has announced that its Peace Day Burger will be offered on Sept. 21, 2015, only in an Atlanta pop-up restaurant. A total of 1,500 Peace Day Burgers will be available for free, first come first served, from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on that day.
Joining with Burger King for the event are Denny鈥檚, Wayback Burgers, Krystal and Giraffas USA. The Peace Day Burger will be 鈥渃ulinary mash-up of a lifetime,鈥� containing parts of Denny鈥檚 Bacon Slamburger, Wayback鈥檚 Wayback Classic, Krystal鈥檚 Cheese Krystal, Giraffas鈥� Brutus and, of course, Burger King鈥檚 Whopper sandwiches. The participating brands will be making contributions to the Peace One Day organization and increasing awareness of its goals.
In a statement, Burger King SVP-Global Brand Management Fernando Machado said, 鈥淪ince the beginning, the main objective of this initiative was to raise awareness of Peace Day. We are really proud to be part of the Peace One Day corporate coalition and to see that the awareness of Peace Day in the U.S. is almost five times higher among those who saw this campaign than those who were not aware of it. We were overwhelmed by the goodwill of our fellow restaurateurs, and believe that working with them to create this once-in-a-lifetime burger is a beautiful twist of fate.鈥�
Burger King announced its offer to聽聽with McDonald鈥檚 on a McWhopper on Aug. 25, 2015. Perhaps because Burger King already had designed McWhopper packaging and uniforms and had designated a site for the event, McDonald鈥檚 may have decided this was an event in which it would be an unequal partner. Or perhaps CEO Steve Easterbrook recalled the line from John Badham鈥檚 1983 movie 鈥淲ar Games鈥�: 鈥淎 strange game. The only winning move is not to play.鈥�
Whatever, Easterbrook called Burger King鈥檚 offer 鈥渋nspiration for a good cause鈥� but suggested that its rival might instead 鈥渏oin us in a meaningful global effort.鈥� Burger King stayed with its original idea and the match was all square.
