Mexico slams Burger King for 'Whopper' of insult

Mexico is protesting at what it says is a whopper of an insult.

An advertisement for Burger King’s Texican Whopper burger, shown in the UK and the rest of Europe, shows a small wrestler dressed in a cape resembling a Mexican flag. The wrestler teams up with a lanky American cowboy almost twice his height to illustrate the cross-border blend of flavours.

“The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican,” a narrator’s voice says.

The taller cowboy boosts the wrestler up to reach high shelves and helps clean tall windows, while the Mexican helps the cowboy open a jar.

Mexico’s ambassador to Spain said yesterday he had written to Burger King’s offices there, objecting to the ad and asking that it be removed.

Jorge Zermeno said the ads “improperly use the stereotyped image of a Mexican”.

Spokesmen at Burger King offices in Miami, Florida, and Madrid did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

One of the things that most angered Mexican officials was a print edition of the ad showing the wrestler wearing what appears to be a Mexican flag as a cloak.

“We have to tell these people that in Mexico we have a great deal of respect for our flag,” Mr Zermeno said.

Mexico has very strict rules about using the flag. Last year the government fined a foreign-owned publishing house, Random House Mondadori, for showing disrespect to the country’s flag in a video posted online.

The video showed a literature fan wearing a Mexican flag like a cape as he barges into a book signing and rips a piece of cloth from the coat of Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho.

It is not the first time that fast-food outlets have offended Mexican sensibilities.

Mexicans and other Hispanics in the US objected to a Taco Bell ad from the 1990s that featured a pint-sized talking Chihuahua that spoke with a Mexican accent.