SpongeBob Meets Sir Mix-A-Lot In New Burger King Ads

By Katy Kelleher | April 8, 2009 | 4:30pm

Burger King‘s new ad campaign for their SpongeBob kid’s meals are facing harsh criticism from the CCFC for their sexualization of the cartoon figure. Click through for the seriously insane video.

Set to a remix of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s famous ode to the well endowed, “Baby Got Back,” and featuring girls in tight shorts dancing with the King, the ad certainly does sexualize SpongeBob. As the King sings about his love for square butts, and his desire to “get with” SpongeBob, ladies dance provocatively, shaking their phone-book-enhanced derrieres. At the end of the 30-second ad, Sir Mix-a-Lot appears lounging on a couch with two ladies and says, “booty is booty.”

Most Popular

The ad was created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and aired during the NCAA men’s basketball championship and other programming on Monday night. It has already come under fire from the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood, who see the commercial as using sex to sell food to children. CCFC director Susan Linn said: “It’s bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it’s utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women.”

There is no doubt that this ad uses sexualized images of women to promote a product meant primarily for kids, but in our porn-ified culture, this is, sadly, not all that shocking. However, the ad is notable for its pure insanity. The longer music video version (shown at left) really brings the crazy. The King goes around measuring the angles and width of women’s square butts while asking SpongeBob to “shake that cubicle butt.” Even though it features scantily-clad women, the song seems to be about the King’s lust for SpongeBob’s ass. It is creepy, it makes no sense, and parents are not happy:

“No parent watching a major sporting event with their children should have to worry about being assaulted by sexualized imagery,” said Joe Kelly of TheDadMan.com, a CCFC Steering Committee Member. “Featuring SpongeBob in an ad like this is a new low. Parents who hope to instill values in their children like respect for women would do well to steer clear of Burger King and Bikini Bottom.”

However, no matter what you think about it, the ad does accomplish its goal: people are talking, and they are talking about Burger King. BrandFreak calls it a “boneheaded move” by SpongeBob, “unless he’s trying to put to rest the long-simmering rumors that he’s gay.”

Outcry just beginning over BK’s square-butts ad for kids’ meals [BrandFreak]
Burger King sexes up square butts for kids [AdFreak]
CCFC to Nick and Burger King: SpongeBob and Sexualization Don’t Mix! [CCFC]