Burger King's black cheeseburger may be trying to tell us something

A bizarre fast food item with a message, maybe

Published September 11, 2014 8:01PM (EDT)

Your beloved black cheeseburger.  (Burger King Japan)
Your beloved black cheeseburger. (Burger King Japan)

Burger King Japan is (re)introducing its pitch-black cheeseburger, which is like a regular cheeseburger, if you were to dip the bun and cheese into tar. To be technically accurate, it's not tar but squid ink and bamboo charcoal that give the menu item its signature look.

I don't want to read too much into it, but doesn't it sort of remind you of this?:

That's graphics legend Milton Glaser's new logo for our (not technically) dying planet, which is supposed to symbolize Earth as it's overtaken by a haze of black -- pollution, perhaps, or oil, or maybe just death. Again, not to give too much credit to Burger King, but given what we know about the link between the consumption of red meat and climate change, it's not a bad attempt at sending a similar message. Also, meat is murder and fast food will kill you.

According to a spokesperson for the company, “the black burgers sold extremely well because of their visual impact, but people continued to come back for them because of their taste."


By Lindsay Abrams

MORE FROM Lindsay Abrams


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Burger King Climate Change Fast Food Japan Meat