View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives

We're nine days away from Christmas and 16 from 2022, so I figured it was a great time to share a Halloween story. (If anyone ever doubts that I don't have much of an editorial calendar, here's proof.) -- Dan

The Treat That Turned Into an Accidental Trick

October is a very spooky month. Well, not really -- it's just a regular month and, really, is not any more spooky than March or August. But October ends with Halloween, so it is as good of a time as any for us to find ways to make things a little scarier than they would otherwise be. Usually, that comes in the form of decorations -- we carve pumpkins, wear costumes, and maybe even adorn our houses with fake cobwebs or things that resemble what ghosts would look like if ghosts were real. It's all in good fun.

But what happens when fake, good-natured scariness celebrations turn into real scares? That's bad. Just as Burger King.

That, pictured above is Burger King's signature hamburger, the Whopper. It's a four-ounce (precooked weight) beef burger adorned with mayo, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and ketchup, with cheese as a common additional ingredient, all positioned on a sesame seed bun. It's not healthy for you, obviously, especially if you ignore the nutritional information. It's just a regular fast-food burger with an iconic name. Nothing about it is particularly scary.

But the Halloween season requires everything to become a little more spooky, right? So in October 2015, Burger King decided it was time to frighten up the Whooper. The result looked like this.

That was the Halloween Whopper. It is also a four-ounce (precooked weight) beef burger adorned with mayo, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and ketchup, with cheese as a common additional ingredient, all positioned on a sesame seed bun. But -- get this! -- they died the bun black. Scary, right?

Okay, it's not that scary. It's just another fun and fright-free way to celebrate the Halloween season. No one who would have eaten a regular Whopper is going to say "nah, this new Halloween Whopper scares me too much." Or, at least, it didn't on the way in. But what about on the way out? That proved different. As CBC News reported, " special treat comes with a surprising trick — ghoulishly green poop."

Shortly after eating these scary sliders, dozens of people went on Twitter to share their gastrointestinal adventures. Some were not all that positive about the experience; for example, one guy attested that "yesterday I had the Halloween Whopper... Today my poop is green," and then noted that "yesterday was the last time I'll have the Halloween Whopper." Others were excited about the adventure; one person triumphantly stated "I ate a Halloween whopper just to see if my poop turned green and it DID." Some described their poops; for example, there's one guy who said his "stool was as green as the Irish countryside after a quenching rain." Some even shared pictures of their doodies: the next link is going to be one that will show you what was in some random person's toilet, so please take caution before clicking, okay? Great: here's the link to someone's green number two. And while many saw Burger King's Halloween Whopper as a marketing stunt gone awry, at least one person saw it as a great idea, just poorly timed; he asked "[do] you think Burger King will bring back the #greenpoop for St. Patrick's Day?"

They probably could have safely. CBS News spoke with Dr. Ian Lustbader, a professor of medicine and a gastroenterologist at New York University, and the best guess is that Burger King just used a lot of food dye. Per that CBS News report, "food coloring is not always completely absorbed by the intestines during digestion, and the dye that isn't absorbed can seep into food material that's sitting in the gut, turning it different colors. USA Today echoed that same sentiment, noting that "other dyes, like those in cake frosting, can deliver the same outcome. If you eat mass quantities of bright foods (beets, tomatoes or leafy greens) you might also notice a greater spectrum in your rectal rainbow." Eat a lot of it -- either too often or all at once -- and sure, bad things can happen. But you'd have to eat a lot of Halloween Whoppers for the dye to do you in (and the saturated fat and calories would probably get you first).

But odd-colored stool can be a sign of something very serious, so as marketing stunts go, this wasn't a great one. (Turning your customers' toilet-going moments into a brief panic at best and a trip to the doctor at worst isn't a great idea.) That Halloween Whopper didn't make a return trip to Burger King's menu in October -- or March -- of 2016.

Shop The #1 Gift On Every Man's Wishlist. Join the 4 million men worldwide who trust MANSCAPED™. Introducing MANSCAPED's premium manscaping kit, The Performance Package 4.0. This gift includes everything he needs for a simple and effective Manscaped™ routine. Get 20% off and free shipping, now!

Sponsored

Bonus fact: If you're eating sushi in the United States, chances are you are eating food dye when you eat wasabi. Actually, no, you're not eating wasabi at all. Wasabi is a type of plant that requires very specific growing conditions and, therefore, is not cultivated at scale. So unless you're in Japan, whatever you're eating isn't actually wasabi. As the Washington Post explains, "what sushi restaurants actually serve alongside spicy tuna rolls is a horseradish-based concoction that is injected with green food coloring, infused with various types of mustard, and, often even, a bunch of other chemicals."

From the Archives: A Sinister Hamburger: A much better marketing stunt from the brains at Burger King.

Like today's Now I Know? Share it with a friend -- just forward this email along.

And if someone forwarded this to you, consider signing up! Just click here.

Share

Forward

Archives · Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Now I Know LLC, All rights reserved.
You opted in, at http://NowIKnow.com via a contest, giveaway, or the like -- or you wouldn't get this email.

Now I Know is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Some images above via Wikipedia.

Now I Know's mailing address is:

Now I Know LLC

P.O. Box 536

Mt. Kisco, NY 10549-9998

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your email address or unsubscribe from this list

Now I Know: The Treat That Turned Into an Accidental Trick

The Treat That Turned Into an Accidental Trick

Older messages

Now I Know: Mr. Bubble, Pink Super Hero

The Now I Know Gift Guide That Doesn't Exist

Now I Know: The Stinging Feeling of Expertise

Now I Know: Why Our Fingers Wrinkle When Wet

Now I Know: The Road With a Toad-Away Zone

You Might Also Like

• Authors • Promote your book series on social media • all in one order

The one thing EVERYONE wants

Food for Agile Thought #469: Disagree And Commit, Amazon’s Big Bet Leadership, Who Needs OKRs, PM Nightmares

Book Promos • 6 posts each day on X.com • Over 33 days •

How to make compounding really work for you

I've been excited to share this, now I finally can!

• Black Fri TO CyberMon Book Promos for Authors ➳ Book Your Spot Now •

SEO is Not Dead: The Power of Free Tools

KU & Paperback • The Story Weaver by Sally Zigmond • A colourful mix of beautifully crafted stories

My Scurvy Mistake