Voting is compulsory in Australia. You can do a “donkey vote” by messing up the instructions, and some people do, but you have to show up or you’re fined. Voting is compulsory in Brazil, too, but doing a “donkey vote” is common. There it’s called voting blank.

More than 147 million Brazilian people are eligible to vote in the first round of state and federal elections in Brazil on October 7, but according to a recent poll, 11% planned to vote blank. Because Brazil’s two major political parties are so ideologically polarised, blank voters and non-voters can have a huge impact on the results if neither candidate wins a majority of votes.

Burger King and its agency, David São Paulo, wanted to remind Brazilians of the consequences of not having their say. They created a new product, Blank Whopper. This Whopper is made “their way”, rather than “your way”. What’s inside it is chosen by someone else. The result is less than delicious, or in the campaign’s terms, living with someone else’s decisions is not fun.

“We wanted to show that casting a blank ballot is not as great as it sounds,” stated Rafael Donato, creative vice president of David São Paulo.

“Each and every one of us deserves their country their way–and an informed voting decision is the first step in that direction.”

Credits:

Agency: David São Paulo
Creative Vice Presdient: Rafael Donato
Creative Director: Edgard Gianesi
Copywriters: Maicon Silveira, Mayara Ribeiro & Lucas Vigliar
Art Director: Paulo Damasceno & Thiago Ferreira
Account management: Carolina Vieira, Rafael Giorgino, Juliana Chediac, Roberta Magalhães & Martina Adati
Producers: Fabiano Beraldo, Fernanda Peixoto, Brunno Cunha & Gustavo Viola
Planning: Daniela Bombonato, Carolina Silva & Bruno Gomiero

Production Company: Delicatessen Filmes
Director: Décio Matos Jr
Photography: Vitor Amati
Editor: Leon Mosditchian @ The End
Sound Production: Jamute

Client: Burger King

Client Team: Ariel Grunkraut, Thais Nicolau, Natalie Bursztyn, Raffaella Martellini & Marcelo Pascoa