Burger King’s spicy new burger is ‘Only for Mexicans’

A commercial for Burger King Mexico pokes fun at Americans who can’t handle their spicy new burger. Photo: Adweek

Footage of American tourists in Cancun, struggling to handle Burger King’s new Mango Habanero burger, is the basis of a new TV ad campaign in Mexico.

Clips of them gagging, gasping and sweating, even angrily tossing the burger into the trash bin, are humorously juxtaposed with locals nonchalantly munching on the spicy burger. Their profanity is not 100% bleeped.

“First the sun burns me, then they burn my intestines,” says one red-faced, fair-haired tourist.

All the footage is real, declares We Believers, the ad agency behind the “Only for Mexicans” campaign, which began today.

“I think most people will get that the execution is just a tongue-in-cheek way of landing a product truth,” Burger King global CMO Fernando Machado told Adweek. “As a result of their local cuisine, most Mexicans tend to have a higher tolerance to chili than other nationalities. I’ve lived in Mexico myself, so I can testify to that from firsthand experience of suffering with habanero peppers. Our brand is American, so to launch the Habanero King, we did something that is self-deprecating and funny. And I think people will take it that way.”

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