Burger King Finally Utters First Words for National ASL Day

The Burger King mascot has never said a word in any commercials, until now. Earlier this month, a Burger King near Gallaudet University, a university for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., was transformed into an American Sign Language restaurant. All text on the menus and signage was replaced by the hand shapes used in ASL fingerspelling, and the King was there, taking orders in fluent ASL.

The campaign, which asks Deaf people to come up with a sign for the Whopper, attracted large groups of signers inside, and they loved what they found. It differs from many ad campaigns of this type, in that it’s not about a company giving something to a disadvantaged community, but about asking for their input on something. Also, the commercial spends time letting signers explain for themselves what they love about their language, which makes it a perfect contribution to the celebration of National ASL Day.