I saw the new Burger King commercial for Breakfast Shots during one of The Office's commercial breaks tonight.  Basically, it is a follow up to a previous "Burger Shots" commercial that recieved a great deal of criticism for its use of dwarfs.

I have to preface what I am about to say with the fact that I do not consider myself to be someone who is easily offended. I watch South Park. I think Andrew Dice Clay was funny in The Dice Man Cometh. Heck, I didn't even see what the big deal was when everyone was freaking out about Marilyn Manson's "Dope Show" video. So what if he's wearing a 1 piece with boobs built into it?

That being said, I was caught a bit off guard when I saw this new BK commercial. I wish I had a clip of it, but I am presently unable to find it anywhere on the net. If you can find a copy, let me know and I'll update this post!

For now, I'll have to give you a very rough sketch by copying a post I found on someone's myspace page:

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO I JUS SEEN A BK BREAKFAST SHOT COMMERCIAL DONE WIT A MIDGET!!!!! LIKE THE BREAKFAST SHOTS R MINI VERSION OF BREAKFAST SANDIWCHES AND A MIDGET WAS DOIGN THE COMMERCIAL N I FIND THAT COMPELTELY TOTSALLY OFFENSSSIVE BUT ITS SOOOOOOO FUNNY I LOVE IT N I CANT STOP LAFFIN N I HOPE U C THIS N GOOGLE THE COMMERCIAL N LAFF WIT MEz!!!

Thanks Brown Bear, I couldn't have said it more eloquently myself.  But seriously, seeing the commercial made me have flashbacks to when I was sitting in Consumer Behavior class five years ago.  As a marketing major, the one thing of which I can assure is you can never assume the best when considering the intent of TV advertising.  Advertising theory goes deep into peoples' hidden motives and subconscious psychology.  If you question whether a commercial meant to imply something . . . it did (and probably more).

People think dwarfs are funny; it's the bottom line.  But why do people think they're funny?

I believe that a culture which focuses so exclusively on comparisons (the haves and the have-nots / the bling and the bust / the hotties and the uggo's), inevitably breeds competition.  If I demean someone else, I look better by comparison.  They lose, and I win.  That is middle school mentality, but somehow it has spread throughout adult society like a staph infection. 

But about BK's motives, who knows?  Perhaps they had no ill intent.  Perhaps they're just mini sandwiches so mini people naturally correlate.  Perhaps, as I suggested, they are trying to play on peoples' closet amusement with dwarfs.  Or perhaps they're actually trying to offend people in order to get more press (in which case I guess I'd be part of the problem!). 

For those of you who have seen the commercial, what do you think?

...update: someone who read this blog post last night had the Office episode saved on their DVR and was nice enough to upload it. I've embedded the video below.  Thanks you digital Zorro!