Ever hear an advertisement that you then spent time trying to figure out?

Perhaps you did not understand what it meant. Maybe it did not make sense how it was related to the product being advertised.

If you are like me, you can even wonder how in the world they agreed on that advertisement, because, well, it simply sounds dumb. Here is one I came across this week.

The ad said “Whataburger, Whatawings.”

I got this right away as it is a common story these days. A burger chain in the south called “Whataburger” is trying to add wings to their menu and come up with a catchy phrase to promote it. Yes, I am just a math teacher, but something in that phrase gets under my skin like the sound of my knife scratching across my plate might bother other people.

Let’s see if some similar advertisement would work for other food chains.

“Chik-fil-A’s Pizza-Fil-A.”
“Pizza Hut,’s Pulled Pork Hut.”
“Dairy Queen’s Glutten Free Queen.”
“Cupcake Factory’s Froot Loops Factory.” Wait, I think that one exists, but it is called Kellogg’s.

Not really working for me. Then I wondered if this ad met the principles of advertising. Let’s see how this stacks up with the 5 principles I found.

Truth – yep they have wings and you may not be able to identify them.
Clarity – clearly they are saying they now have wings and simply did not know what to say about them.
Originality – truly no one else would come up with this.
Effectiveness – I am not buying wings from them, so no.
Profitability – since they don’t have chicken legs they are probably charging you one to get them.

That’s 4 out of 5 so it passes. Good work there by the advertisers.

Hope you have a Happy Friday.