Statement of CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson on Burger King's King Kong Promotion
December 15, 2005
With its Triple Whopper, Burger King is solidifying its reputation as the fast-food chain most likely to solidify your arteries. A teenager having a Triple Whopper and a 42-ounce shake is going to eat upwards of 2,500 calories and 2 days' worth of saturated fat in just one sitting. That may be fine if you're climbing the Empire State Building every day but it's not fine for your typical sedentary schoolkid.
When a corporation is so plainly putting its customers' health in such peril, it has a responsibility to put calorie information right on the menu board. The only reason it doesn't is because it fears, probably correctly, that people will order smaller portions. And that means less profit for Burger King.
While we've come to expect the worst from Burger King, we let the entertainment industry too easily off the hook. Those folks shouldn't be auctioning off Harry Potter, SpongeBob SquarePants, or King Kong to the highest bidder. By doing so they become willful accomplices in the fast-food industry's apparent war against the public's health.