Mediacology

It used to be that hoaxing was the province of pranksters and artists. But now Burger King? WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! I suppose when Aqua Teen Hunger Force inadvertently hoaxed terrorism, the florescent light went off in the heads of a multitude of marketing geeks.

Hey, No Whopper on the Menu?! - WSJ.com:

The videotaped hoax was a twist on a market research technique called “deprivation research,” in which marketers measure how loyal consumers are to a brand or product by taking it away from them. The insight gained helps marketers design new marketing and ad ploys that will resonate better with consumers.

A range of marketers have tried the technique. Dunkin’ Brands’ Dunkin’ Donuts, for instance, two years ago forced a group of its customers to drink Starbucks coffee for a week instead. Verizon Wireless also tried it a year ago, getting a group of teens, at least half of them Verizon customers, to give up using cellphones — theirs or anyone else’s — for a weekend.
[Shocked Customer]
A shocked customer learns the Whopper has been taken off the menu.

“It’s a great tool to understand what role a product plays in peoples lives,” says Lesley Bielby, chief strategy officer at Interpublic Group’s Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, who helped conduct the research for Dunkin’ Donuts and Verizon. Still, experts say it’s rare for the method to be used in actual consumer advertising.