The Burger King

The Burger King is a character created as the advertising mascot for international fast food restaurant chain Burger King that has been used in numerous television commercials and advertising programs. The character has under gone several iterations over the course of its company's history. The first iteration of the King was part of Burger King sign at the first store in Miami, Florida in 1955. Later signs had the King shown sitting on a "burger throne" as well as atop the BK sign while holding a beverage. In the early 1970s Burger King started using a small, animated version of the King called Kurger Bing in its children's advertising where the animated Burger King was voiced by Allen Swift. By the late 70s, the original animated King was replaced by the "Marvelous Magical Burger King", a red-bearded, Tudor-era king who ruled the Burger King Kingdom and performed magic tricks that were mostly sleight-of-hand, but sometimes relied on camera tricks or involved his "Magic Ring" which could summon copious amounts of food. The children's ads featuring the King were phased out by the late 1980s in favor of the BK Kids Club Gang and other later programs.

When advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky took over the advertising account of Burger King in 2003, They devised a caricatured variation of the Burger King character from the Burger King Kingdom advertising campaign, now simply called "the King". During the use of CP+B's new version of the King, ads generated significant word of mouth for its new use of what various trade publications and Internet articles labeled "the Creepy King" persona, an appellation that BK came to favor and CP+B used in its ads. However, the use of the King failed to provide a consistent message regarding the company and its products. Upon the take over of Burger King by 3G Capital in 2010, the company terminated its relationship with CP+B and in August 2011 Burger King announced that character would be retired as the primary mascot for the brand.