Burger King’s Moldy Whopper Sweeps Up 18 Gold Pencils at The One Show
Three agencies were behind the boundary-pushing stunt
The three agencies that helped create Burger King’s infamous Moldy Whopper had a good run at this year’s virtual One Show.
David Miami, Publicis Bucharest and Stockholm-based Ingo each took home 18 gold pencils for the ad at The One Show, which took place virtually due to the lockdowns spurred by Covid-19.
Moldy Whopper took home the most golds this year, spanning categories including design, film, integrated, out-of-home, print, public relations and direct marketing.
The Moldy Whopper made its debut in February. The crux of the campaign was a film showing Burger King’s famous sandwich literally molding over the span of a month.
The ad was created to illustrate the chain’s commitment to ending its use of artificial preservatives: According to Burger King, it’s removed them from the Whopper in most European countries and select locations in the U.S., with more to come.
McCann New York took home 15 golds, including nine for Microsoft’s “Changing the Game” campaign, which has cleaned up at awards shows throughout the past year. It won a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions last year and has been honored by the Epica Awards and the ADC Awards.
The agency won six golds for “Generation Lockdown,” a PSA about gun violence created in partnership with March for Our Lives, the advocacy group founded in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 14, 2018.
Scholz & Friends Berlin also won 15 golds, including 11 for The Female Company’s “Tampon Book,” a stunt that involved packaging menstrual products inside of books to make a point about tax discrimination.
The remaining four were given to “Sound Images,” a campaign the German agency created for the Berlin Philharmonic that involved translating sound into imagery.
“Project Understood,” a campaign created by FCB Toronto for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society and Google AI, was awarded 11 golds. As part of the initiative, people with Down syndrome “donated” their voices to Google to make it easier for voice assistants to recognize their speech patterns.
BBDO New York walked away with eight golds at this year’s One Show. Five golds were awarded to “Back to School Essentials,” a PSA campaign created for Sandy Hook Promise, the nonprofit formed after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012.
Three golds were given to “The Epidemic,” Monica Lewinsky’s latest anti-bullying campaign.
BBDO Toronto also won eight golds, all of which were for “Parkscapes,” a project for the Regent Park School of Music that involved collaborations with Taylor Swift and Canadian producer Frank Dukes.
Students at the school, which provides subsidized musical education to kids of all ages throughout the Toronto metropolitan area, worked with Dukes to create an album that artists can sample in their work. In exchange, each time an artist—such as Swift—uses music from the album, the licensing fees, royalties and residuals are paid out to the school.
Other winners from the 2020 One Show include:
- FCB Chicago: seven golds for two projects on behalf of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence: “The Gun Violence History Book” and “The Most Dangerous Street“
- FCB/SIX: six golds for “Go Back to Africa,” a campaign for Black & Abroad
- TBWA\Media Arts Lab Los Angeles: six golds for Apple’s “Bounce” film
- GS&P: six golds, four for Daughters of the Evolution’s “Lessons in Herstory“
More winners will be announced on June 18, including Agency of the Year and Best of Discipline honorees.
