Burger King Virgins from Chris Dickey on Vimeo

You've seen it: the Tibetan guy with bad teeth staring awestruck at a hamburger. It is the premise of a recent ad campaign by Crispin Porter + Bogusky that placed the american icon in worldly outposts so remote, the subjects had no idea no cultural cues as to what a hamburger was. The concept was to have a truly blind taste test, sans decades of marketing or cultural inheritence. The result? A fresh take at fastfood. A friend actually told me about the ad before I saw it and marketers and pundits felt compelled to instantly weigh in with their expert opinions on whether the campaign was brilliant or a flop. MSNBC apparently felt the latter:

...the ads feature people who live in such rural areas of the world that they have ostensibly never tried, or perhaps even heard of, a burger. After apparently being told to dress in their fanciest traditional outfits, they are trooped into a bland room and handed two burgers

The results are exceeding awkward.

Mostly, the ads and the online video come off as a Herculean effort to make something dramatic out of encounters that appear, at best, stilted. When the video reaches the point that they are discussing propane outlets extensively, you really get the sense that they are stretching for drama.

Footage on the company’s Web site shows the testers unsure how to eat the burger and yet keen not to be impolite. In the television ads, the subjects are seen taking huge bites of the sandwiches, but their responses appear muted: They point at the one they like and briefly confirm their choice. If they had anything compelling to say about the experience of eating their first burger, you don’t see it in the spots.

There’s certainly no evidence that they were converted to a life of fast food and are seeking franchise opportunities. The online movie offers a little more insight, including one man admitting he prefers seal meat and a few people choosing the Big Mac, saying they have no preference or refusing to try a burger at all. But if there was an "a-ha" moment among the testers, we don’t see it.

Thanks MSNBC. But who the fuck cares about evidence or a-ah moments? This isn't a Ken Burns documentary; it's a 20 second ad spot. The only point is that people sit on their couch and watch rather than heading for the bathroom. In the ad business, you succeed if your message has lingering power longer than 30 seconds; much less generate so much commentary and word-of-mouth buzz. Does Pantene really make your hair shiny or does eating McDonald's McNuggets make you look young, attractive and athletic? Evidence doesn't matter—instilling a lasting impression does. And for that, CP+B deserves fat kudos for reinventing the fast food commercial.