WTF Wednesday: Heart Attack Grill
Naming a burger joint is a unique challenge — you’ve got to be honest and straightforward so as not to alienate your local and customers, but also cheeky and clever enough to woo outsiders. Fun, after all, is tied into that convoluted narrative of American fast food. But if you’re going with an über-gimmicky, straight-talk theme, might as well call it Heart Attack Grill.
With such menu items as the Quadruple Bypass Burger, the Heart Attack Grill operates under a theme of hospitals and surgery, complete with scantily clad nurses.
Here’s the trouble: when does a gimmick go too far? Can you really build a brand based on the ugly truth of a dangerous lifestyle?
When I first learned about West Coast burger chain Fatburger, I thought it was a joke — who would ever want to eat at a place that has “fat” in the name? Food is good, but becoming fat is the terrible (yet avoidable) side effect. Heart attacks are that much worse!
I have the feeling that Heart Attack Grill attracts a ton of tourists and one-time visitors who revel in the novelty of the food rather than the taste and quality. Gourmet burgers, when prepared properly, can be a reasonable treat for the foodie and average Joe alike, but I doubt these are the case.
The real WTF comes from the promotion of poor health. Aside from the name, and the menu itself, the medical theme serves as a constant reminder of the dangers of the eating there. It’s one thing to laugh in the face of danger, it’s another to smoke Cancer® brand cigarettes.
As much as I profess my expertise in branding, I will never understand the American consumer. Am I simply an East Coast elitist whose healthy and sporty lifestyle insulates me from such ‘novelties’? Or is this, as I suspect, a dreadfully bad idea that only works because we, the public, are a perverse and self-destructive lot? Either way, I wouldn’t invest in such a company.
