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Watch Burger King Use the Whopper to Teach Customers About Net Neutrality

Watch Burger King Use the Whopper to Teach Customers About Net Neutrality

“The internet should be like The Whopper,” says one of the largest fast food chains in  America.

Burger King released a new commercial that illustrates the effects of repealing Net Neutrality, using the Whopper as an object lesson.

Some customers paid the regular menu price for the chain’s signature sandwich. And were surprised to discover that an entirely new set of regulations had been placed on the timing of their orders. If customers wanted their burgers as quickly as possible, they would need to pay a $26 fee to make their order a priority.

“Burger King Corporation believes that they can sell more and make more money selling chicken sandwiches and Chicken Fries so now they’re slowing down access to The Whopper,” one employee (or actor) explains to the unsuspecting and befuddled customers.

The prank is meant to demonstrate what many fear will be the results of a deregulated Internet. Net Neutrality advocates warn that consumers could be charged more if they want to visit popular sites like, say, Facebook or Netflix. And certain sites could be blocked completely.

Companies could also make their own websites easier to access than their competitors’.  For example, Verizon owns Yahoo, so if Net Neutrality is repealed, they could start charging people to access other search engines like Google. Basically, they could charge you more for ordering The Whopper as an incentive to buy more Chicken Fries.

Burger King customers were highly upset about the prank in the moment. They did not catch on to the lesson of the it until they were told afterward. Using food as an illustration seemed to prove effective in illustrating what Net Neutrality advocates see as the problem of deregulating the Internet.

‘I didn’t think that a Whopper–ordering a Whopper–would really open my eyes up to Net Neutrality,” says one customer who lost his cool a few moments earlier.”

“[The Whopper prank] is stupid but true,” adds another interviewee.

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