“The Million Dollar Whopper Contest” is the latest brand campaign to use AI to generate strange creations for consumers to share on social media. Last month, Avocados From Mexico unveiled an AI-powered generator for guacamole recipes, which also encouraged visitors to think outside the box (Ad Age created perhaps the first-ever peanut butter guac). And Intuit previously offered AI-generated selfies tied to an individual’s “financial aura.”
As with Intuit’s effort, Burger King’s is also a first-party data play. Fans will need to log in to the chain’s loyalty program, Royal Perks, in order to enter the $1 million contest, or create an account if they don’t have one.
“Grilliam” has the potential to become a PR nightmare given the freedom that consumers have to deface the Whopper, but guardrails have been established to prevent any unsavory creations. Visitors to the microsite must first agree that their customizations are edible ingredients. And even still, Grilliam might reject some ideas; Ad Age was prevented from adding peanut butter to its burger.
“The Million Dollar Whopper Contest” was developed with Media.Monks, and the AI platform used to generate the images is Stable Diffusion, a person familiar with the situation told Ad Age. The effort follows Burger King’s AI-themed campaign in France last Halloween, which showed all the creepy ways that AI-generated people eat fast food.