By Julian H. Betancourt
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BURGER KING'S R.O.T.S. PROMOTION:
PERIPHERAL MATERIAL
 
Burger King's Star Wars oriented peripheral material included graphics on all of the items listed below. All packaging outlined the "Choose your destiny" game prizes. Some products such as cups and containers had attached game pieces on them:
 
- Hash Browns Bag
- French fries containers (all sizes) Game piece included
- Pie Box (No game piece)
- Soft drink cups (all sizes) Game piece included
- Two plastic tumblers (King size cups). Game piece included
- Coffee cup. Game piece included
- Two paper bags: Brown, standard size and white for Kid's meal
- Placemat with activities and games on the back
- Adventures flyer vol.16: Games and activities. Mistakenly, the Clone trooper was listed inside as a droid!
- King's crowns: Character designed with two red and two blue backgrounds. (No game piece)
 
     
     
     
     
     
     
 
BURGER KING'S R.O.T.S. PROMOTION:
POSTERS, DISPLAYS AND MORE
 
The print campaign, supporting the promotion included posters, banners and clings in many sizes and styles. For those persistent collectors, after too much asking and continuous visits, some of these non-for-sale items became available during or after the promotion was over. As part of this print campaign there was a fantastic, motion triggered Mustafar Vader stand-up which could be heard breathing as people passed by it. The stand up advertised the "Choose your Destiny" game.
 
     
 
TOY DISPLAY: In addition to the common counter top toy display, there was also a 6' plastic POP (Point of Purchase) display case housing the toy collection. At some stores this toy display case was auctioned off and sold at much reasonable prices to support different charity organizations.
 
 
RARE DISPLAY BOX: This portable tri fold display box was only given to some of the toy designers and CEO, revealing within its interior all 31 toys from the promotion securely protected by a clear plastic cover and placed into individual small compartments. The outside of the case was made of heavy cardboard stock with a colorful design on its front showing Anakin turned Sith and other characters from the Saga. The display principle is a great reminder of the metal case offered during the 1999 Pepsi promotion containing all the soda cans.
 
 
INFLATABLE: A huge 9' inflatable Vader bust display was placed atop many BK roofs. This colossal display was heavily watched by employees that knew about the previous theft of other inflatables from other campaigns such as the giant Sponge Bob.
 
 
START UP DISK: Burger King offered a Star Wars themed AOL Trial disk. The disk contained a trivia game, wallpapers, screensavers, teaser trailer, and a couple interviews. The disk worked without having to install AOL, just by running StarWars.exe from the disk. It was a hidden file, so if you didn't have hidden files set visible, you couldn't see it. That didn't matter though, as all you have to do to make it work was to go to Start > Run, and type "D:\StarWars" and then replace 'D' with your CD-Rom drive letter.
 
 
CHARGE CARD: This very rare item was made available in the State of Virginia and nowhere else. The card was only valid for purchases made within such state.
 
 
 
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BURGER KING'S R.O.T.S.
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION

As fans all over the world were getting ready to flock and see the final installment of Star Wars, Burger King restaurants became the "tastiest" place to feel the force of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. BK's spectacular international promotional campaign (which covered as many as 60 countries around the globe), was the chain's first promotion of this kind ever.

The promotion also included their restaurants in Australia (under a different name) which we'll take a look at in a separate section. Although Burger King became the perfect place for entire families worldwide to immerse themselves in Star Wars fever, the international campaign was not quite as rosy as the American one as the variety of items available to other countries paled in comparison to ours and weren't many.

BURGER KING'S R.O.T.S. INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION:
THE TOYS

With the exception of just one of them (flipping backwards Yoda), the collectible toys offered as a part of B.K's promotion differed greatly between ours in the U. S. A and those the rest of the world saw.
 
While the American promotion offered 31 evenly scaled toys, international Burger King's outlets in some Asian, European and Latin American countries offered a set of just six Star Wars collectible toys with Kid's meals, or for purchase individually. Each toy came packaged in a clear bag and shared the same instruction insert describing all of their play features. The toys were built without any scale correlation between them.
 
 
Following is a break down list of all six International toys, a short description of their features and their corresponding detailed images to better illustrate them: 

- "WRAP AROUND" CHEWBACCA: This is one toy lacks detail and has a strong child appeal rather than a collector one. Of course, we can't forget these are toys intended mainly for kids. It is bendable and therefore poseable. The Wookiee is soft (plush-like) to the touch and made of a soft cloth with printed bandolier, fur and face details.
 
 
- "DUELING" DARTH VADER: Close to scale to Hasbro's 3 3/4" figures, this Vader has a button on his back that when pressed makes him chop up people with what appears to be a huge red plastic chainsaw ... or is it a lightsaber?
 
 
- "LIGHT SPEED" MILLENNIUM FALCON: This one is indeed the best of this set. It is well painted, well detailed and weathered rendition of the Falcon. Features a rotating radar dish and a battery powered LED which simulates turned on engines that flash a red light when the ship is pushed along on its wheels.
 
   
 
- "PIECE ME UP" C-3PO:  A neat toy to play around with. Threepio came unassembled in its bag. Once its limbs are attached to his body he becomes the largest toy of the set at almost 6 inches in height. When C-3po's head gets pushed down, his limbs actually fly off, dismembering the droid and preparing him for the next build up.
 
   

- "BACK FLIP" YODA: As mentioned previously, this is the only toy duplicating the U. S range and basically the only Super Deformed toy found as part the International set. You can wind up Yoda by turning on the prominent knob on his left side. Yoda will then tilt forward a bit to gain enough strength to back flip and with a bit of luck ... land on its feet.
 
 
- "ACTION REACTION" R2-D2:  A neat toy featuring a wind up dome with activates the droid and sends him wheeling away in an erratic, dizzying path of circles and turns. 
 
 
 ARGENTINA'S TOY SET: As a note of interest, the Argentinean market was also offered the international set of six toys, but the demand for them overwhelmed their availability and thus Argentina's Burger Kings in conjunction with Lucasfilm and a local toy maker in that country, produced four truly lame toys to offer with the meals. The toys had no moving parts nor any special features. Basically they were just badly detailed, cheap plastic mini statues. This toys surface with frequency at Ebay and can be obtained at very low prices.
 
BURGER KING'S R.O.T.S.. INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION:
EVERYTHING ELSE
 
The huge promotion involved so many countries, graphics and designs that it would be practically impossible to talk about or show every single one of them. With this in mind, let's get into hyperspace and take a quick look around the galaxy at some of the countries and their most relevant items, other than the toys, rounding up this campaign. But first, let's take a look at some of the print Advertising from around the globe. Ready? Go!
 
     
 
STAR WARS MEMORABILIA ROADSHOWS AND MORE (United Kingdom): As part of the global partnership with Lucasfilm to celebrate the release of the final installment in the Star Wars saga, Burger King joined forces in England with some of their main toy experts as well as movie prop/promotion specialists Weird & Wonderful, creating the Star Wars Memorabilia Roadshows at restaurant locations in London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Customers at these restaurants were able to find out (thanks to an expert valuer who was on hand, providing instant valuations of Star Wars memorabilia), whether they may had had a hidden gem in their attic. People were urged to bring in shirts, posters toys or anything Star Wars related to be valued.
 
Fans almost felt as they were stepping onto the set of a Star Wars film, as life size replica characters from the movies such as Artoo, Vader and Boba Fett were brought into the restaurants along with a host of Stormtroopers, offering a great photo opportunity. These three Burger King locations offered a free Whopper Meal Deal to the first 50 Star Wars fans that came along with an item of their own to have it valued

The exclusive set of 6 international Star Wars toys was made available for the British market, along with exclusive glasses, watches and a scratch off game.

 
SCRATCH CARDS( United Kingdom, Germany, Austria): Just like the scratch off game pieces found affixed to the cups and fry containers of the American promotion, each of these 16 different characters small scratch cards came with a prize. Choosing correctly when scratching a card allowed players to win a number of prizes.

 
CHILDREN'S FACE MASKS (United Kingdom): This set of two paper masks was only available in England. The masks had adjustable straps to easily remain on the face. Darth Vader and C-3PO made up the set.

 
BASEBALL CAPS (Mexico): The Mexican market offered among other items, the aforementioned set of 6 international figures: Yoda, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2, Millennium Falcon and Vader as part of their campaign.  There was also a set of three different baseball caps that included: Chewbacca, Yoda and R2-D2. These are uniquely designed, well painted character caps which nowadays have gained in value.
 
TUMBLER SET (Singapore): A sturdy set of 3 plastic King size tumblers was issued in Singapore. Each tumbler had a different color lid and while two of them were specific EP III graphics, a third united characters from other Episodes showing characters not seen in "Revenge."
 
COLLECTOR  3D CUPS (The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Hungary): This beautifully designed set of 3 plastic cups with vibrant holographic images were a must have collectible. The holograms moved or changed, depending on how each cup is held. For instance one cup's position shows Anakin's face but it quickly changes to Vader once the cup is moved. Some of the images on the cups show Yoda and Anakin and Obi-Wan dueling.
 
REGULAR CUPS (Spain, Germany, United Kigdom, other countries):  These wax paper cups were nicely decorated with a Sith red background and showed images of Anakin, Vader, Palpatine and Obi-Wan.
 
 
BURGER KING'S AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION
 
What would had you called the King's place in a country where such name had already been taken by another merchant when the Corporation franchise first tried to open its doors there? Keep it simple, keep it real: Hungry Jack's is the name and the famous Aussie burger got added to its menu, giving the restaurant a touch of the Land Down Under.
 
Being an extension of the international Burger King Corporation franchise, and as part of the overseas campaign to promote the release of the Saga's final film, Australia's Hungry Jack's made available just a few but interesting Episode III premiums, such as tumblers and puppets, with the purchase of their Value Meals and Kids Meals. These premiums were created and produced by PlayCorp and are definitely "Got-to-Have" items for those of us with an eye into the vast world of fast food collecting.
 
HUNGRY JACK'S TOPPERS: Over a four week period Hungry Jack's value meals could be purchased with four unique 3D tumblers, made of sturdy clear plastic, tinted gray. The Tumblers were stamped with the Star Wars logo in black letters and featured well detailed toppers of General Grievous, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Anakin/Vader. To keep the tumblers from getting scuff marks and scratches, they were available sealed in see-through bags.
 
     

HUNGRY JACK'S FINGER PUPPETS: In Kids Meals, the "little ones" and the not so little were able to find four plastic finger puppets: Anakin, Yoda, Obi-Wan, and the Emperor. Although these suffered criticism by some collectors wanting a more substantial collectible, they are nonetheless unique and hard to obtain.

HUNGRY JACK'S VADER'S HELMET: A four piece, build up Darth Vader's helmet was also offered along with the finger puppets. The helmet was dissected into two frontal pieces and two back pieces. Each piece presented peg connectors to be inserted in the opposite piece's opening and thus creating one whole, complete helmet.

BURGER KING'S R.O.T.S.. PROMOTION:
FINAL THOUGHT
 
The Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Burger King movie promotion was, without a doubt, a great success. Never before had we seen so much Star Wars product at the King's castle. Most likely the memories of our daily trips into the restaurant, the lines at the Drive-Thru window just to get that "needed" Sith cup, the mean employees and the cool ones too will be remembered for a lifetime, not just in America but all over the world as well
 
Toys, posters, window clings and decorations in general placed us all in Star Wars Kingdom. A Kingdom where B. K was the ruling castle to which we so happily and loyally visited for 6 full weeks. The promotion had brought fun to all of us and our Jedi spirit had been energized.
 
But just four short months after the end of the movie promotion, just when we thought it was safe to "have it our way" and place an order for a healthy salad, no saturated fats involved, the B.K's "Return of the Sith" DVD movie promotion kicked in!