Do You Like Your Burgers A Little Pink?

It's been a long time since a Grade A classic cartoon character has graced the oil soaked bag or box of a fast food chain kid's meal. (Except Snoopy, who's made the rounds at both Burger King and Wendy's.) Burger King is currently running a promotion for The Pink Panther 2 movie which is in theatres now. That's good news for people who like old cartoon characters and Happy Meal prizes! The new Pink Panther movie is not too much to get excited about. It's pretty much a watered down, dumbed down retread of the original film series which consisted of eight films between 1963 and 1983, plus an additional film in 1993. The problem with marketing a Pink Panther movie is that the character of The Pink Panther has very little to do with any of the films. In the film series, the Pink Panther is a jewel - a very large pink jewel to be exact. The cartoon character of the Pink Panther only appears in the opening credits and sometimes right before the final credits. Of course nowadays, The Pink Panther the cartoon character is far more well known that any of the details of the film series. However, Burger King has managed to work both the classic character and some aspects of the film into their Kids Meal toys.

On our recent "research trip" to Burger King we snagged a couple of the Car Crazy Clouseau toys. The cool thing is, this little car is similar to the one Inspector Clouseau drives in the new movie. What's odd, however, is the toy features the original cartoon version, of the Inspector - used in the older films and a cartoon series of his own. The Pink Panther 2 movie uses a new model of the Inspector to more closely resemble Steve Martin's appearance in the film. Either way, it's a cool little collectible that ties in with both the movie and the great cartoon star. If you even look closely above the bumper you can see the logo for the new movie!

As with any good Happy Meal, there's not just one toy but eight to collect. Burger King usually does a pretty good job and offering different kinds of prizes instead of just doing eight different figures or eight different cars. This insert from the Kid's Meal prize shows the other toys available in this promotion. (This is the best picture I could provide!) There's a pink bracelet and sunglasses, there's a couple of role playing toys, and there's even a Pink Panther figure with Kung-Fu grip! The one toy called Pink Panther Caper is a magic trick which comes with a plastic replica of the Pink Panther jewel that you can make disappear and then reappear. Well played, BK...well played!