Imagine you open the door and enter to a Burger King restaurant. You see a lot of people, news cameras and you wonder what's going on. Then you discover on the back of the restaurant that the 11 presidential candidates that have been attacking each other on broadcasted debates, are having lunch together and sharing a Whopper. Laughing, playing foosball, taking selfies, and having a good time.

Would you keep hating other political parties fans just because they have other positions towards different topics such as gay rights?

Would you believe in democracy and get out

Costa Rica has always been a peaceful and democratic country, however the 2018 presidential elections were very controversial. For the first time in history, 11 different parties were running up for the presidency of the country and many of them having very different positions towards controversial topics such as religion and gay rights. All this mix caused continuos attacks between the candidates, even on broadcasted debates. And of course their followers copied the way they behave. 

Burger King wanted to calm things down between the candidates, to set an example of how the entire population should behave. The brand tried to achieve something that seemed impossible, to gather the whole 11 presidential candidates at a Burger King restaurant for them to have a nice and peaceful meal.

11 presidential candidates sharing a Whopper together at a Burger King restaurant.

To cool things off between the presidential candidates Burger King invited all of them to visit a restaurant and have a meal together, without discussions, free of attacks, dirty campaigns and hate. 

To prove their commitment with the people, we told them that if they came, Burger King would give away free Whoppers to voters on Election Day.

This was the first time in nearly 200 years of democracy that politicians shared with people more hate than ideas. This behavior was being emulated by people on social networks and even on households and working spaces. So we needed them to make a change, showing with their example that they could get along, because when cameras are off, politicians shake their hands and go home, just like we do after a day of work. 

Our strategy was simple, we wanted to show people that politicians are just like us, and that there was no sense in copying their behavior. So we proposed the candidates something a bit complicated, to find time in their busy agendas to gather in a Burger King restaurant to enjoy a meal. This was going to be live on Facebook so people can learn by their example and also get along during election time. 

The invitation was made through a very simple but effective way, a Facebook post where each candidate was tagged. In the post we told them that if they came in peace to Burger King, we were going to give away free Whoppers to voters on Election Day. When the media saw what we were trying to do, they also pushed the candidates as well, because they knew that if this happened, things were going to cool off a little bit between candidates and also between common people.

So the big day came, the 13 candidates accepted and came in peace to enjoy a meal together. The media also came and witness all of what happened, laughs, hugs, a foosball game and of course a meal with whoppers. The event lasted around 3 hours, broadcasted through Facebook Live and also on local channel 7 news. 

- 100% of the presidential candidates attended, including Carlos Alvarado the president elect 

- 64k+ interactions

- 1 million+ total reach in a country of nearly 5 million

- $500k+ in earned media 

- #1 trending topic on Facebook and Twitter

- +1.000 free Whoppers on Election Day

- In the end, the Whopper became part of the celebration of Costa Rican democracy and became another reason to get out and vote.