Two young teenagers are dropped off at the mall and their parents do some shopping. Armed with ten dollars each and a little time to spare, the boys begin roaming the halls looking for anything to spend their money on. As they walk by the food court, they smell many different traditional foods, but what they see really catches their attention. On a banner near Burger King is an advertisement depicting a young girl with wide eyes and an open mouth in front of a BK (Burger King) “Seven Incher” hamburger. The text around the photo says: "This will blow your mind" in all caps. Hormones are racing, the two boys know what most of their money will be used for. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Companies that create advertisements for products that are essentially "a dime a dozen" will be looking to publish something that stands out. Was this method the best way to achieve this? Or could this create more problems than good for Burger King? I'm going to argue that BK uses gender in their ads to target their younger male audience, rather than specifically for their products. To do this, I will evaluate Burger King's target audience, its advertising history, and the slogans and images incorporated into its messages. Method The target audience is defined as “a specific group within a larger audience”. Target audiences are used in marketing by businesses that want to reach a specific demographic and also share specific demographic characteristics. Slogans are “a brief phrase intended to attract attention, used in advertising or promotion” (Merriam Webster, 2015, 2). Businesses use them to create a connection between an ad and their target audience. Analysis Burger King's target audience at the time these advertisements aired was a younger, male-oriented group (Morrison, 2012, 1). More recently, Burger King has diversified and developed new, healthier options for its menu. However, the stereotypical “manly meat” menu they previously offered directly appealed to their target audience. The ad for the "seven-inch burger" aired with the skinny model covered in makeup, mouth open and wide-eyed, facing the burger while the written message read: "This will blow your mind." Another ad BK ran featured a woman's legs from the knee down, while she wears only red high heels and a Burger King crown around her ankles. Obviously, this gives the illusion that she would only wear the "crown" and once again directly points to the sexual nature and overall target audience of the brand. Combine the audience with the sexually suggestive messages and suddenly Burger King is no longer selling valuable dishes and sides, but rather sexual innuendo aimed directly at its young, predominantly male audience. Burger King has a history of running bold and sexual ads. suggestive over the last 20 years. Since Burger King has a product and line of products that are duplicated by many (namely the fast food and hamburger industry), they are essentially not advertising just their products and prices, but rather a snapshot of what they offer combined with sex. In the advert showing the woman wearing the BK crown around her ankles, her shoes are a dark red shade. Red is “the most popular color.