Achtung Burger King!
May 15th, 2007
And this is why I love blogs.
Via Arun Rajagopal’s blog, there’s a guy in Berlin, Germany, who is picture-blogging (plogging?) all the trash on the side of the road that’s from Burger King. Apparently, a new BK opened down the street from his home. Before the new fast-food joint opened, there wasn’t a lot of trash around. Now, that’s not the case. So how does Zeichensatz deal with it?
“Whenever I leave the house and remember to take a camera with me, I take pictures of all the Burger King items I find in the streets. Back home I publish them in my blog. Once in a while I take one of my thick felt-pen markers, enter the joint and leave the website’s URL at the wall of the bathroom.”
Check out his blog and his Flickr gallery.
Outstanding. Power to the person indeed.
Other posts by Spike.
FI Chris says:
So, basically, Berliners are a bunch of inconsiderate slobs leaving their trash everywhere, and this guy wants to blame Burger King?,
Don’t get me wrong. I detest litter. In fact, I go out of my way to pick it up when I see it. But if I pick up a bottle or a diaper or a cigarette butt, I don’t blame Coke or Pampers or Marlboro for it. I say, “Wow. Some people are ***holes.”
Maybe instead of getting on Burger King’s case, Mr. Zeichensatz could take pictures of the people who are dropping trash or, God forbid, call the police and ask for an officer to stop by and issue littering citations.
Burger King could post signs urging their customers to respect the environment (and the law) by depositing their waste in bins rather than on the ground. They could even ask their employees to participate in a monthly clean-up program (and doing so would probably generate some good will). But I don’t believe Burger King is actively encouraging its patrons to litter, nor is it their duty to monitor their patrons’ behavior once they leave the restaurant. If you want to complain about litter, complain about the people leaving it, not the establishment where they get it from in the first place.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:26 amArun Rajagopal says:
I agree with Chris here; BK is not at fault as much as the customers who are actually littering the place. Like he says, BK has a great opportunity to generate goodwill in the community by getting involved in a clean-up exercise. I’m just wondering here… if Mr. Zeichensatz actually took snaps of those littering and put them on his blog, wouldn’t that be more responsible citizen journalism? Also, will he be sued for publishing snaps of such people? Again, can BK initiate legal action against him for putting snaps of BK litter on his blog, which gives the impression that they are in collusion with this behavior?
May 15th, 2007 at 1:00 pmSpike says:
I’m not saying the BK is at fault here, either. I’m just pointing out that it’s great that a blog can empower someone to take action about something their passionate about.
BK is the trash enabler!
May 15th, 2007 at 1:02 pmChristy says:
Hm. Chris makes a good point.
I would be curious to know if BK is the *only* establishment in the area, hence the new litter. Why is it only BK litter?? *Is* it only BK litter?
Is BK so new in this area that people don’t know how to deal with the litter? Why would BK litter be any different than other litter?
May 15th, 2007 at 1:14 pmMr. Steve says:
If you read the actual blog, you will find that the BK Manager missed a GREAT opportunity to put the commune back in community. When confronted with the evidence, the BK manager simply pointed to the two trash cans in the store, and said he was covered. Technically, he is right. It’s NOT BK’s fault that all this litter is being spread. But imagine the blogger’s response, and the response of hundreds of others in the community, if the Manager said “You’re right…morning shift, when you’re done, let’s take a 30 minute walk up and down the street cleaning up.”
So BK isn’t wrong here…but they missed the chance to be right.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:52 amFI Chris says:
This makes me want to go to Berlin and start a blog where I’ll post pictures of this guy taking pictures of litter instead of cleaning it up.
And then I’ll pick up the trash that he won’t. How meta would that be?
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:17 amSeverin Wilson says:
A very subtle, yet all the same hugely important point is being missed here. One needs to take into consideration deeply entrenched anti-American sentiments and stereotypes that are quite wide-spread in Germany. From these pictures emanates the narrative of “American” characteristics i.e. wastefulness and environmental sabotage being imported via an American corporation. Certainly, approached logically, there is not much sense to this line of reasoning – however, that is exactly the problem faced by Burger King in this instance: we are dealing with sentiments. I took a close look at several German postings: this has all the ingredients of becoming a major PR headache for Burger King (especially now in terms of the upcoming G8 summit to be held in Germany). Essentially, the manager of that franchise would be well advised to come up with some gesture that makes it unequivocally clear that the corporation he serves is adamantly opposed to littering and will do everything in its power to prevent this. Sure – you guys are right: this is not BK’s fault, but in terms of branding, the fault question is irrelevant.
May 28th, 2007 at 6:43 am