Burger King is about to open its first restaurant in Belgium and is attempting to use the country’s royal family as a way to promote their debut. The problem is the restaurant didn’t ask for permission and now may have worn out their welcome before it even begins. If you visit the Burger King site for the country, you are greeted by a chance to vote for the monarch of your choice. Either you can side with Burger King and their fame-broiled policies or you can choose Belgium’s current monarch, King Philippe.
The king is represented by an artistic rendering seen below and voting for him prompts the site to ask the user, “Are you sure? He won’t be the one to cook your fries,” according to Mashable.
As the BBC points out, this did not sit well with the monarchy and they relayed their displeasure through their spokesman:
“We disapprove of this approach,” royal spokesman Pierre Emmanuel de Bauw said…”Since it is for commercial purposes, we would not have given our authorisation.”
BBC adds that Burger King did not receive any contact from the family in reference to the ad and it remains online as of publication. The voting for the site is open until June 19th and the restaurant is slated to open soon after. It’s not clear what the voting does in the end since you can’t really vote for King Phillipe without being prompted that it is a bad idea. Also apparently the king is above the law in Belgium, meaning he could raze the Burger King and open his own competing restaurant on the site without any repercussions. Probably wouldn’t happen but it’s still fun to think about a monarch going full Mad King on a fast food chain.
(Via Mashable / BBC)
