Burger King Halloween Promotion Has Creepy Ronald McDonald Appearing In Bathroom Mirrors

Burger King locations in Sweden and Denmark are running a strange promotion in their restrooms for Halloween. For a limited time, customers who say the phrase “canceled clown” 3 times in the bathroom will trigger the lights to dim and cause an image of a creepy Ronald McDonald to appear in the mirror. The strange promotion is made possible by voice recognition software that was installed by a Swedish company called INGO Stockholm. The phrase triggers the lights to go off and also triggers visual effects on a two-way “smart mirror.”

“A few years ago, a particular clown got abruptly ‘canceled’ from his long-standing job at a certain hamburger chain. But this Halloween he is back — at Burger King restrooms. If you do dare to summon him, it might be worth your while,” Burger King said in an announcement of the promotion.

Burger King locations in the region have frequently taken shots at their top rival McDonalds. 

For one promotion in December of 2018, Burger King customers could get a Whopper for just $0.01 if they walked by a McDonald’s with it. Earlier this year, Burger King locations in Finland offered customers free delivery if they had their food sent to a McDonald’s location and ate it there. To add insult to injury, the company placed ads for the promotion outside of some McDonald’s locations.

The most recent promotion about the “canceled clown” is taking a shot at McDonald’s because the company was forced to cancel the famous character after it was determined that the mascot was promoting junk food to kids. A group of 550 doctors took out newspaper ads in 2011, insisting Ronald McDonald retire.

McDonald’s global business has been struggling in recent years.

In 2015, the company’s incoming CEO, Steve Easterbrook admitted that massive changes would be needed to improve McDonald’s struggling reputation.

“I think there is a hunger and an interest in our business to embrace change. McDonald’s management team is keenly focused on acting more quickly to better address today’s consumer needs, expectations, and the competitive marketplace,” Easterbrook said.

For the fiscal year of 2018, McDonald’s reported earnings of $5.9 billion, with an annual revenue of $21.0 billion, which is a decrease of 7.9% from the previous year. Meanwhile, Burger King has seen an increase in revenue in recent years after a few years of struggling starting in 2013.

It is not hard to see that decline of McDonald’s is happening, even in your own local neighborhood. Where once there were lines wrapped around the parking lot at multiple Mcdonald’s locations in every town, there are now very sparse crowds at the restaurant, even in high traffic areas and during busy times.