The Burger King (2003)

Great research, but I’m not so sure that this qualifies as an internet meme.

The King didn’t need the Interent to reach audiences, as he’s a mascot for a brand.

Japanese Ronald McDonald is also a mascot for a brand, but the Ran Ran Ruu meme involves an active user-base that creates their own remixes, in a sense pulling Japanese Ronald from his position as spokesman and turning him into the subject for obscure artistic reinterpretation.

You did a great job on the history of the evolution of the King mascot, but I’m not convinced that there is any truly memetic activity happening here.

Why thank you, it was a boring afternoon.

Definitely not a meme. This is viral advertising, and has not captured the zeitgeist. BALEET plox

I politely disagree Z, The King is at least as much a meme as Vince Shlomi is.

Hmm I am also on the fence. It’s definitely been internet remix’d like a mofo, but it’s intrinsically an advertisement :|

Do we have any other confirmed entries that are ads?

Well, Domo is NHK’s mascot and Vince Shlomi is an ad man.

Note: the only reason I’m pushing for this is because I put a lot of work into the research.

And what about wii fit girl?

In my first comment I hadn’t seen all the spoofs and mashups of the King, so I was skeptical about whether or not there was any memetic activity.

Yes, this has been remixed and mashed up like crazy, and could POSSIBLY be considered for the MemeDB, but this is the kind of entry that sets a precident for other ad-related submissions.

The Wii Fit Girl video is controversial. Although the couple both work in advertising, they deny that they created the video to promote the Wii.

But they were definitely using the video as “personal branding” or creating viral content for self-promotion.

I know at least a few of us were on the fence about accepting the submission (especially considering it was submitted by Giovanni, Wii fit gir’s boyfriend) but as long as the controversy involved is clearly spelled out, I think it’s acceptable.

I think we’ll have to wait for our meme sections and classifications to develop and mature a little more before we greenlight The King.

Also on the fence. I think that might have me moving towards the “meme” camp is the whole “Where Is Your God Now?” bit.

STILL RELEVANT (internet/pop icon)

Thanks Brad, once the King enters the DB, my mission will be accomplished.

When I was 6 the burger king scared the crap out of me.

Elephant.

Why is this not a meme yet?

Yeah, really. Why isn’t it?

Theory of Memehood: if it’s funny enough, it’s a meme.

@Jack

Not entirely true.

Though, I think that this is a meme.

This is definitely not just viral marketing. A lot of the images/.gifs/videos that The King appears in are inappropriate to the level that BK, as a company, would not want to be associated with. The King has been a gangster, a Nazi, a murderer, a rapist, an adulterer, and a general scoundrel on the internet, and that can’t be good for business.

This is, undoubtedly, a meme.

Certainly. Creepy king is a derivative here, along with the others.

How long has this been in limbo? can we plz reach a decision on this?

I say Confirm.

Confirm.

+1 Confirm.

if we confirm/deadpool this wont the rest of the submissions be freed? even if it doesn’t do anything i still will add +1 confirm

Only deadpooling this temporarily to test a theory. Will move back to submissions shortly.

The king has cursed KYM…
We should fear for our lives!

D:

+1 confirm.

Disregarding as it’s technically viral advertising. But there are many inappropriate remixes and photos of the King. Would definitely be a meme for sure.

+1 Confirm.

+1 confirm, I see this used alot within YouTube Poop’s and YTMND’s.

+1 confirm!

+1 comfirm