Burger King's Poop Emoji Ice Cream Is Cleaner Than It Appears

Come for the Moldy Whopper, stay for the poop emoji ice cream.

Burger King loves to entice consumers palates by first testing their gag reflexes. We all remember the “Moldy Whopper” campaign that put a spotlight on mold and Whopper’s lack of artificial ingredients.

This time, the brand is celebrating its ice creams and desserts being devoid of artificial ingredients by turning chocolate ice cream into the frequently used poop emoji. But just because it looks like poop doesn’t mean it tastes like it. Is this what people tell guests when they cut into a cake that too realistically looks like a baby?

A 50-second video explains that Burger King’s ice cream used to be loaded with artificial colors and flavors, but no longer. Now, their sweet ice cream only looks like poop to remind you that it’s free of artificial crap (uh, is that how this works?).

The Poop Emoji ice cream is available at BK ice cream trucks throughout Brazil.

Muse spoke with Rogério Chaves and Fabrício Pretto, creative directors at David São Paulo, to find out why visually unappealing food is so engaging, achieving a rich color without fake ingredients, and the length of this project from conception to completion.

Muse: First the Moldy Whopper, now poop emoji ice cream. How did you come up with this idea? 

We needed a powerful and unique symbol to represent Burger King’s big dessert menu transformation. Something capable of differentiating our ice cream from our competitors’ ice cream. The ice cream offerings are pretty much the same on the outside, but very different on the inside. As a visual icon, the poop emoji is sweet but weird at the same time—exactly as we needed. 

How did you get the rich chocolate coloring without artificial ingredients? 

This was part of an extensive and detailed product development from the BK team. We can say that the new product uses cocoa and doce de leite (dulche de leche) as natural coloring. One of the main challenges was to get to a more natural version of our ice cream, without compromising on taste.   

Why is it only available via ice cream truck? 

The whole process to get to the final product requires a lot of craft, as you can see from its eyes and mouth. And it was not possible to get to perfect results inside a regular store, which, as you may imagine, has its own dynamics.

How long will the poop emoji ice cream be available? 

It was initially planned to be a limited edition. But with its success and level of engagement, Burger King is starting conversations to add it to its regular menu. Fingers crossed here.     

In press materials, you mentioned that food producers are still adding artificial ingredients to their food. Are you discreetly calling out McDonald’s here? 

Well, not exactly. We just wanted to point out that BK seems to be going in the opposite direction than the industry as a whole, which includes many of our competitors. 😉  

Is there anything else I should know about the campaign? 

It took more than two years between the first meeting to present the idea to the launch. It took years—number two—to get the poop emoji ice cream down the pipeline. Was this kismet?

CREDITS
Agency: DAVID 
Client: Burger King Brazil 
Campaign: Poop Emoji Ice Cream 
Global CCO: Pancho Cassis 
Global COO: Sylvia Panico 
Global PR Director: Sandra Azedo 
Creative VP: Rafa Donato 
ECD: Edgard Gianesi, Renata Leão 
Creative Director: Fabrício Pretto, Rogério Chaves 
Creative team: Yan Prado, Israel Medeiros, Raphaela Filippetto, Lucas Menegotto  
Account: Carolina Vieira, Rafael Giorgino, Cacá Franklin, Larissa Zanardi, Carol Cury
Producer: Fernanda Peixoto, Ana Marques, Letícia Brito 
Editor: Victor Peccia 
Planning: Luciana Mendes, Carolina Silva, Angel Pinheiro 
Media: Marcia Mendonça, Thomaz Chamiso, Leonardo Berenguer, Pedro Graça, Victor Fortes, Guilherme Garcia 
Innovation: Toni Ferreira, Gustavo Nanes 
Social Media: Maike Maio, Marcelo Reis, Victor Goes 
Data Intelligence: Mailson Dutra, Ana Veiga 
Producer Company: The End 
Director: Rodrigo Gusmão
Sound Producer Company: Jamute 
Musical Producers: James Pinto, Marcos Vaz
Client Approval: Ariel Grunkraut, Juliana Cury, Daniel Packness, Pedro Laguardia, Marcella Gil