How Burger King is trying to explain net neutrality with Whoppers

If you’re still confused about what exactly net neutrality is, Burger King is here to help.

Burger King released a video Wednesday that starts with people trying to describe “net neutrality,” after the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to repeal it late last year.

But in the video, no one really knew the whole story.

One person seemed unaware that the rules were repealed. “It was?” they said.

“With net neutrality, you know some people, for what it’s worth, just … you know,” another person trailed off.

But a third finally fessed up: “I don’t know exactly what it is.”

So Burger King decided to use its burgers to explain it.

In the video, customers appear confused as to why they are waiting so long for the Whoppers they ordered.

Then the employee behind the counter tells them why — there were three different Whoppers they could order. The “Slow MBPS” Whopper is $4.99, the “fast MBPS” one is priced $12.99 and the “Hyperfast MBPS” Whopper costs a hefty $25.99.

(In case you were wondering, MBPS stands for “Making Burgers Per Second.”)

If you want your food faster, the employee tells frustrated customers, you have to shell out more money.

These differently-priced Whoppers are meant to symbolize the fear that access to the internet will be priced differently for different people, now that net neutrality has been repealed.

The rules were introduced under the Obama Administration with the aim of ensuring equal access to all content on the internet. But FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who pushed for the repeal of the rules, argued that net neutrality isn’t needed because “the internet wasn’t broken in 2015 (when the rules were put in place). We weren’t living in a digital dystopia.”

Now with net neutrality rules on the way out, some worry that internet service providers could charge extra for fast internet speeds and slow or block certain websites.

Not many people were happy when Burger King applied those fears to fast food.

“So if we want a Whopper now we have to pay $26?” one woman asks.

“This is a lane system?” another man asks.

“Yes,” the employee responds, “fast lane, slow lane. So maybe like 15, 20 minutes?”

And as customers grow more confused, employees tell them that their Whoppers are ready, but they still have to wait.

The faux reason given for the stunt was that “Burger King corporation believes they can sell more and make more money selling chicken sandwiches and chicken fries, so they’re slowing down access to the Whopper.”

In the end, the customers were told it was a prank to raise awareness about net neutrality, with one saying, “I didn’t think that ordering a Whopper would open my eyes to net neutrality.”

Not everyone enjoyed the ad, however, saying it oversimplified or incorrectly explained the issue.

According to The Washington Post, there are now 50 members of the U.S. Senate who are endorsing legislation to override the FCC and reinstate net neutrality. Attorneys general for 21 states and D.C. have sued to keep net neutrality in place.

This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 10:41 AM with the headline "How Burger King is trying to explain net neutrality with Whoppers."