'We Give Up': Burger King flips expectations in funny new ad for the Chicken Royale

Advertising agency BBH might have just cooked up the funniest fast food ad of the year. Released as part of the promotion for Burger King's official Chicken Royale Day - an event where the Home of the Whopper is offering fans nationwide a Chicken Royale for just £1 via the Burger King app - the campaign titled We Give Up is a witty reference to its customer's eating habits.

That's because, despite Burger King's consistent efforts to promote its signature Whopper for decades, many customers seem to prefer ordering the chicken-based alternative when they get to the counter. It's a clever and humorous spot that defies the cliches of food promotion to deliver that rarest of beasts in advertising: a genuinely surprising premise guaranteed to make you laugh.

Three framed photographs on a white wall showing people wearing Burger King uniforms with "We Give Up" text overlaid, part of the Chicken Royale campaign

Woman in blue shirt and white-rimmed sunglasses holding a Chicken Royale burger, with an airplane overhead and urban billboards behind her

Person in red shirt and yellow trousers eating a Burger King Chicken Royale inside a branded restaurant setting with neon signage and promotional posters

Released as part of a campaign which will appear across OOH, social press and print, We Give Up takes a sarcastic look at how Whopper advertising still falls on deaf ears. In fact, despite receiving comparatively minimal coverage, the Chicken Royale continues to be one of the chain's best-selling burgers. It has even made a "more favourable impression on internet users than rival offerings." It's enough to make anyone throw in the towel.

To drive the concept home, We Give Up features posters that depict customers through the ages as they chow down on their beloved Chicken Royales while their surroundings continue to bombard them with adverts for the Whopper.

Spanning different eras between the 1960s and the 2020s, the campaign uses this time frame to rinse the joke for all it's worth. There's even a cheeky reference to Burger King's famous rivalry with a certain other fast food chain in the video promo, as a familiar yellow and red logo gets covered by a billboard ad for the Whopper. Who on Earth could this be referencing?

Burger King's "We Give Up" advertisement on a concrete wall showing a person in a red convertible car with the campaign text overlaid

Child sitting in a bus shelter reading a Burger King Chicken Royale wrapper, with a red and black advertising display showing the "We Give Up" campaign on a London street

Capping off the adverts is a slogan delivered with the dry irony that only Burger King can pull off. Where can customers pick up their Chicken Royales? That's right: "Only at the Home of the Whopper."

"At Burger King, we've heroed our iconic Whopper for decades," explains Soco Núñez de Cela - Brand and Communications Director. "This year, we wanted to flip the status quo and celebrate a fan favourite, the Chicken Royale instead.

"This simple but self-aware idea reminisces on Whopper through the years while reminding guests that, whilst we may be The Home of the Whopper, we are also home to the most loved chicken burger in the UK, The Chicken Royale."