Burger King to give NASCAR's Tony Stewart a polygraph test about his Whopper love

In today's paper the very prolific Dan Neil writes about a new Burger King ad campaign that Neil points out goes a long way toward shattering one of advertising's most effective illusions. That would be that when a celebrity endorses a product, he or she is probably lying about loving it.

In the ad, which will be broadcast live during an Oct. 20 webcast, NASCAR driver Tony Stewart will be hooked up to a polygraph machine and asked, "Does Tony really love Burger King's Whopper sandwich?" Neil goes on to point out that folks in front of the TV don't actually believe that Sarah Jessica Parker uses Garnier, or that Paris Hilton loves Carl's Jr. The list goes on and on. If Stewart passes his Whopper-love test, that might have to change.

And it probably won't be hard for him to pass a polygraph test. Stewart looks like a guy who really does eat a Whopper every now and again. That said, I'll probably still be suspicious if he passes. Who knows if the machine being used in the webcast really is a polygraph machine? And maybe Stewart is actually on a macrobiotic diet. You really can't believe anything you see on TV.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Burger King

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Comments

[Michel Martin]

The polygraph (lie detector) exam conducted on-air on Tony Stewart was a sham. The so-called examiner, John Grogan, was not a polygraph examiner at all. He is a con-man who never attended polygraph school but is pretending to be a polygraph examiner. The producers of the commercial were advised about this but went ahead with the ad anyway. Those of us in the professional polygraph community have no problem with actors pretending to be polygraph examiners for the sake of a tv show or movie, but when a show purports to present a real polygraph examiner conducting an actual polygraph there should be limits.

[Michael]

I think Tony can pass this test he is a great driver so he can pass it. you can do it Tony Stewart

[Jess]

Um, I think he'll pass this one. He's a self admitted fast food junkie...