Why Burger King Once Encouraged Customers To Order McDonald's

The rivalry between Burger King and McDonald's is well-established. The idea of the Burger Wars dates back to the 1970s, but things got more serious than just a friendly rivalry in 1981, when Burger King ran an ad featuring a young Sarah Michelle Gellar calling out McDonald's by name. Gellar was five years old at the time and the commercial seemed very cute. Except McDonald's sued both Burger King and Gellar herself. This rivalry was serious business. But some things are bigger than a business rivalry. In 2020, Burger King UK took to social media and told customers to go eat at McDonald's.

Burger King posted a message on its official X (formerly Twitter) account in November 2020. In big, bold letters, it read "ORDER FROM MCDONALD'S." Even though a lot of fast food advertising can be jokey or sarcastic, this was a sincere message of solidarity. November 2020 was a very rough time for the restaurant industry because of COVID restrictions. "We never thought we'd be asking you to do this, but restaurants employing thousands of staff really need your support at the moment," the post said. Burger King was urging customers to order from their favorite restaurant, whatever it might be, to help support restaurant employees whose jobs were at risk.

The message didn't just mention McDonald's; it also name-dropped other competitors including Five Guys, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Burger King also posted about independent restaurants on its Instagram account, saying that there were many dishes that deserved to be as famous as the iconic Whopper.

It's hard to say exactly how the rivalry between Burger King and McDonald's has evolved since the height of the Burger Wars, or even since the COVID restrictions were lifted. In 2023, Burger King released a new Whopper ad campaign that some media outlets described as a direct attempt to compete with McDonald's . There was nothing inherently antagonistic about the campaign. In fact, it was just a jingle that repeated the word "Whopper" over and over. However, it became a viral hit with over 18 million views on YouTube and nearly 19 million Spotify plays. Because Burger King and McDonald's are competitors, you could make the case that any Burger King ad is meant to show up McDonald's. However, there's nothing official from either company suggesting that was the purpose of this campaign, and the ad doesn't mention McDonald's.

In the last few years, both chains have reworked their flagship burgers with a revamped Burger King Whopper and a tweaked version of McDonald's Big Mac. These changes were not part of an explicit, shots-fired rivalry like the one seen back in the day, but media sources are still referring to the situation as the "Burger Wars." The solidarity expressed in Burger King's 2020 posts was very much a product of the times. McDonald's never officially responded and other restaurants did not follow suit with public pleas to bolster the industry. While some commenters called it out as a publicity stunt, the sentiment was at least a nice change from suing children.