"Whales/Feet"

4 March 2024

2 mins

The day after the Christmas party.

Unless you worked in No 10 Downing Street, Covid-19 put the kibosh on office Christmas parties. It meant no one woke up with 'the fear'—that sense of dread more powerful than common sense or reason. When office parties came back, so did 'the fear' with a vengeance.

This pair of 60" Burger King commercials from Germany capture 'the day after' felling with aplomb. First, there's a woman in the bath who treated her colleagues to whale song. Second, it's the boss with a foot fetish who claims his plates of meat are the talk of the town.

The former would rather stay in the bath for the rest of her life than return to work—the latter, with an impish smile, wonders why he never showed off his feet until last night.

In both ads, none of the events described by the narrator are reconstructed. Instead, the actors provide tangible self-reflection as they revisit their shame in what appears to be an agonising reverie. The bold decision to limit their stories in this fashion pays off in every sense... not least in saving the client a whole heap of money.

Germany

Fast Food Restaurants