The Microsoft-Backed Burger King Whopper Customers Could Barely Eat

When you think of Burger King, the Whopper probably comes to mind. We've seen the Whopper change over the years, with a variety of creative Whoppers coming and going. Wacky variations like the Angriest Whopper, Chocolate Whopper, and the Halloween Whopper have been released. The chain even once famously produced a wine to pair with the Whopper. Of all the limited-release Whoppers ever in existence, one legendary incarnation stands out for its sheer size and unlikely tech partnership. We're talking about the Windows 7 Whopper, released in Japan in October 2009 as part of a promotional campaign for the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. Sounds like a random pairing, right? So, what made it so memorable? 

To match Windows 7, the burger came stacked with seven beef patties and sold for a promo price of 777 yen (approximately $8.55 at the time). Originally slated for a brief seven-day run, the promotion was extended by nine days due to overwhelming popularity. Only the first 30 customers at each location could score the burger at the promotional ¥777 price, while latecomers had to pay the regular price of ¥1,450. As you can imagine, stacking seven patties made the burger tall (and incredibly unwieldy), towering over its fellow burgers at 5.1 inches and containing about 1.7 pounds of meat. While it may not have been the most appetizing creation, it generated exactly the kind of massive buzz Burger King was hoping for.

Burger King's seven-tier burger was a 2,120-calorie undertaking. While some customers managed to finish the entire thing by themselves, many had to share just to get through it. In a review for Gizmodo, writer Jason Chen stated that the best way to eat this overstuffed tall burger was "like an ice cream sundae, by hacking away at its sides with a fork." Meanwhile, a Reddit user who took on the challenge said, "I have had one of these. I could not finish it. When I was done I felt so gross." 

Aside from its obvious structural issues, the lack of balance in meat to toppings didn't do the burger any favors. It came with the standard Whopper ingredients: lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions, but the overwhelming mountain of seven full-size Whopper patties overshadowed everything. The absence of a single slice of cheese to hold them together was a dealbreaker for some customers. 

One Redditor vividly recalled that "the buns in the end were soaking with fat from the patties." Another commenter on Reddit who tried the Windows 7 Whopper described the experience as "revolting." The purpose of this extreme creation was to get people talking, not to stick around. You can't order the Windows 7 Whopper anymore, but it definitely goes down in history as one of the wildest items Burger King ever put on a menu.