In a move that seems to be totally against the grain (and we ain't talking wholegrain here!) of current thinking in the food and restaurant industry, Burger King have announced the release of a new salacious-sounding summer treat that will be released this week, and will run until September. This does not only go against general current trends in healthier eating and portion control, but is also in direct contrast to Burger King's own recent marketing moves in selling healthier, lower calorie items such as fruit smoothies and better salads and wraps. They even use David Beckham, a world-renowned athlete, Olympic competitor and 2012 opening ceremony ambassador, to promote the new healthier choices and lifestyle, no doubt at great expense to the brand. So right on the heels of what can only be seen as forward thinking and positive moves comes the imminent release of, wait for it, the new bacon sundae!
It's a delicious new treat consisting of vanilla ice cream, topped with caramel, fudge, bacon pieces (yes, bacon pieces), and to top it all off, a lovely rasher of bacon! Quite how this was conceived or how it is designed to fit into current marketing tactics by the brand is not clear to me, unless they are saying that when it's summer we can all afford to let the hair down (i.e. loosen the belts!) and live a little. Or a lot. This junk food item comes in at over 500 calories, and consists of almost 20 grams of pure fat, and a whopping (pun intended!) 60 grams plus of white sugar. In and of itself, it's probably not a bad treat once per month, but we all know that it is most likely to be served as an afterthought to a Texas Whopper and large pack of french fries. More than an entire day's calories wolfed down in twenty minutes at lunchtime, with two meals (at least) to factor in on top, and don't worry about how much salt, sugar and fat is being consumed in total in the process. For sure, it's way, way over what is currently recommended as "daily healthy eating".
We discussed in a recent blog the move by the Mayor of New York to try to ban "large-size sugary drinks", and one cannot help but smile at what he must think of this new dessert! It is true that it seems kind of pointless to be banning large-size sodas if we continue to have things like bacon sundaes, krispy kreme bacon cheeseburgers and supersized fries staring down at us from the banners. Burger King presumably have done their market research and know full well that the bacon sundae is going to be a full blown summer hit (and run). So the healthier eating marketing is just a question of covering all the bases, and making sure that there is something for everyone, thus ensuring increased profits from a wider-ranging selection of products to a more varied clientele.
It always comes down to the same thing: while such companies continue to push sugary+fatty+salty cocktails over the counter, it remains up to us to choose and to try to do the better thing, at least some of the time. There are those that argue that if you remove the choice, people will do better, and those that argue that the choice should be ours, and no one has the right to remove temptation from us. It is still somewhat of a grey area, and until an entire generation (and more) have their taste buds reprogrammed, we will still be subject to the devils who tempt us with such delicacies as bacon-laced ice cream. Hmm, I wonder if you can request your bacon extra crispy, or still soft, juicy and dripping in fat from the pan?!! - Kevin Mc
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