Jack in the Box is the butt of its own joke Jack in the Box is taking aim at McDonald’s and Burger King’s angus burgers with a little juvenile humor—suggesting that viewers drop the “g” when they think of the word angus. (The spots don’t appear to be online, but the linked story has plot summaries.) I don’t know if Jack and its agency, Secret Weapon Marketing, have thought this strategy through. I now associate Jack in the Box—not McDonald’s or Burger King—with the unappetizing word (sans “g”), which is surely the last thing the client intended. And what’s up with Chairman Jack? The guy looks like a cross between the Wal-Mart smiley face and Rankin/Bass’s Snow Miser. Maybe he could fight the King and Hamburglar in a three-way death match. That would be an ad worth Jack. Or they could all just head to Cold Stone for some ice cream. UPDATE: See the spots here and here. —Posted by David Gianatasio

May 22, 2007 | Permalink

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Come on, David, I know you can say the word. Go on. Gibe it a try. Anus. Anus. Anus. See...you can say the word Anus:-)

Posted by: Steve Hall | May 22, 2007 10:43:24 AM

Well as every good marketer/advertiser should know, one of the rules of advertising is that you should never mention the competition by name. It results in free publicity for the competitor, and could stimulate sympathy for the company being attacked.

Posted by: Blue | May 22, 2007 2:33:47 PM

I only saw the last ten seconds, but I loved the commercial, so much so I wanted to check out other Jack in the Box ads online. (I'm from New York, so I don't see them ordinarily.)

I couldn't drive by a McDonald's "100% pure Angus" billboard in LA without thinking of stopping by Jack in the Box.

Posted by: Richard | May 22, 2007 11:03:33 PM

I always thought the Jack in the Box guy is a bit creepy and scary. The King wasn't scary until I saw BK commercials of the King showing up unexpected in bed, a window and perhaps the creepiest of all, at a construction site.

Posted by: Ed | May 23, 2007 9:41:49 AM

It might be a bad strategy if A) Jack in the Box sells angus burgers, too, which they don't. They sell a sirloin burger. People know what sirloin is; few, since the Pavilions/Vons marketing introduction a couple of years ago,can tell you what Angus is and b) if they did mention the competition by name, which they don't. More to the point, the spots use the vastly higher media spending of McDonald's Carl's Jr. and Burger King against them, as they're the ones yelling angus, angus, angus! I do wish Dick would have gone all the way and made fun of the McDonald's Angus Pounder.

Posted by: Gregory Solman | May 24, 2007 5:49:26 PM

This is one of the funniest ads I have every seen. The Carl's folks need to lighten up.

Posted by: Brian Telesh | May 26, 2007 12:09:51 AM

The Jack's commercials are funny, but would have been gone and forgotten in a few weeks.

Not so the CKE lawsuit, which makes them look like real anguses.

Posted by: George Wilson | May 30, 2007 6:34:59 PM

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