Cowboy Hootie sings for Burger King BK

The lastest from Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Burger King is this strange commercial for their Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch sandwich. It is like an Old Navy ad on acid with some Playboy/Penthouse thrown in for good measure, somewhat typical of David LaChapelle's work.

Burger King - Fantasy Ranch (2005) 0:60 (USA)

One of the stranger things about this ad is the number of B-list celebrities. The ad stars Darius Rucker (a.k.a Hootie), the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, fitted out in cowboy gear, singing new lyrics to the tune of "Big Rock Candy Mountain", an old bluegrass song. Past CP+B ads for Burger King with their Office theme feature E!'s "Talk Soup" hostJoel McHale, which is maybe how/why they got former "Wild On" and current "Rank" host Brooke Burke to appear in this spot. Along with The King and the now famous Tendercrisp Chicken, the ad aslo had appereances by FHM's Vida Guerra and three Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders (One who is Monica Cravinas- I couldn't figure out the other two as they look like too many of the other members of the squad to know for certain who is who.) Another person on a blog commented that they think the blonde near the tree at the beginning of the spot is Jenna Jameson. But we're not stating that as fact, even though it does look like her. The cowboy in the first part of the spot is also a male model I know I've seen in other print ads. If you can spot more, please post them in the comments. Overall, I'm not sure what I think of this spot. It definitely makes you stop and watch. But I'm not sure if it's in the vein of lookie-loos driving by traffic accidents, or if it's because it's good. One thing is for certain, no one would ever confuse this spot with an ad for McDonalds, Wendy's or other fast foot joint. The art direction is definitely good. And the hat tip to "The Wizard of Oz" is nice with the black and white transition to Technicolor and the yellow brick road reference with the cheddar. But it's all just so strange. Why the B-list celebrities? Why not do what they did with the Bacon Cheddar Ranch sandwich and use the Office theme? I think I'm going to need a bit before I can decide if I like or hate this ad. On the web the general consensious is shock and "OMG". Quite a few of the blog posts on this commercial use the title "Hootie has fallen" or some variation of that theme. Even fans of Darius aren't liking the spot. What do you think about it?