When it comes to advertising slogans, sometimes it’s best just to leave well enough alone.
After 40 years, Burger King is ditching its iconic “Have It Your Way” slogan and adopting the vaguely aspirational mantra, “Be Your Way.”
The new slogan has almost nothing to do with selling burgers — a fact that was not lost on consumers.
“I just want a burger, not a lecture on being politically/socially correct,” one posted on Twitter.
“Burger King is going from ‘Have It Your Way’ to ‘Be Your Way’ …either way I still have no desire to eat there,” tweeted another.
What does Don Draper think of Burger King’s new slogan? Our guess: Not much.
This season of “Mad Men” provides a fictional backdrop for the real-world demise of fast-food chain Burger Chef.
The chain was well on its way to becoming a major player in the 1960s — ironically, an upscale Burger King — before it lost its mojo.
In its waning years, Burger Chef churned through one ad agency after another, trying desperately to recapture the good ol’ days.
While there was nothing wrong with Burger King’s old slogan, some brands just can’t resist tinkering.
Here are some other slogans (and one famous logo) that failed to live up to the original:
1) Maxwell House turned Teddy Roosevelt’s offhand comment about its coffee — “Good to the Last Drop” — into its official slogan. Three-quarters of a century later, it followed with a painfully obvious effort that flopped: “Better Beans Make Better Coffee.”
2) In 2011, the producers of “The Other White Meat” traded in their 24-year-old slogan in favor of “Pork, Be Inspired.” Needless to say, it left pork eaters feeling anything but.
3) Baltimore’s previous slogan attempts — “The City That Reads,” “The Greatest City in America” and “Charm City” — were so bad that it decided to call in the branding experts. In 2006, they managed to come up with this grammatically questionable version: “Baltimore — Get In On It.”
4) In 2012, Pepsi unveiled its newest global slogan, “Live For Now,” to the dismay of soda drinkers everywhere. Unlike “The Choice of a New Generation,” which captured a youthful vibe, the new slogan sounded as if everyone’s days are numbered.
5) If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a logo is sometimes better than a slogan. Gap found this out the hard way in 2010 when it scrapped its classic navy blue box for a new logo that looked like it was for an accounting firm. The clothing chain reversed course almost immediately after a public outcry.