McCann Lima: Burger King hacks Peruvian law

Rules can be so annoying. And Latin America has some weird ones. Until March 25, moviegoers in Peru, for example, could only consume food and beverages bought in the theatres’ food concessions in Peru. Anything bought outside the theatre was forbidden.

After a resolution by the National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property, this prohibition ceased, and consumers can now enter movie theatres with good food “similar” to those sold in the cinema’s food concessions.

Burger King Peru and McCann Lima saw this change in the law as a marketing and communications opportunity and created the King Popcorn activation, in which Burger King sold its star product, a Whopper and order of French fries, in a popcorn bag specially designed to disguise additional contents – but identical in appearance to those sold in theatres and therefore easy to sneak inside the movie.

Christian Caldwell, chief creative officer at McCann Lima, commented, “The idea was to hack a law that’s a little absurd. The King Popcorn, in fact, has only a lid with a small amount of popcorn inside and then a hidden Whopper and fries. This allows consumers to enter the cinema and enjoy their favourite Burger King meal.”

The activation was launched on the same day the new law became effective in shopping centers and cinemas where a Burger King is present in the food court. The campaign was supported by social media and point of sale ads.

Although the movie theatres got wind of the initiative and tried to boycott the action, during the activation period Burger King managed to increase its sales by 40%, and McCann put the brand in the spotlight.