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Why Burger King Pulled New Mary J. Blige Ad

Apr 5, 2012  •  Post A Comment

A controversy has been raging over a Burger King commercial featuring Mary J. Blige, which drew criticism after surfacing on the Internet and appearing briefly on local television stations, Advertising Age reports.

The singer issued a statement Wednesday in response to the criticism, indicating Burger King had released an unfinished version of the spot.

Ad Age reported: “The ad for the marketer’s new Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps … drew complaints across the Internet, with some saying it was not worthy of a star of Ms. Blige’s stature and others suggesting it fed stereotypes relating to African-Americans and fried chicken.”

In her statement Wednesday, Blige said: "I agreed to be a part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that’s not what was happening in that clip, so I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. But, if you’re a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw to go out."

The ad was initially posted on Burger King’s YouTube channel, but was pulled earlier this week. Burger King attributed the move to a “music-licensing issue” — an explanation that some observers questioned.

Burger King later offered a different explanation, telling Ad Age via email that "the spot released did not include a dream sequence that was shot during the production" and adding, "We are in the process of re-editing the spot to reflect the original concept."

Burger King also said it "would like to apologize to Mary J. and all of her fans for airing an ad that was not final."

2 Comments

  1. Yawn, much ado about nuttin’.
    Pass the watermelon…

  2. An unfinished commercial made it on the air?
    That sounds really unprofessional. Burger King always seemed tacky and now they’ve proven it. Too bad they made Mary J. Blige look bad as well.

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