Herb the Nerd - In 1985, the Burger King Corporation launched a 40 million dollar campaign featuring "Herb" the only man in America who hadn't tasted the goodness of their hamburger products. Herb was never seen in the early commercials but the awe and astonishment over the fact that Herb hadn't tasted a Burger King burger was the focus of the campaign.

Mock testimonials from family members and friends were edited into the commercial telling how different Herb was from other people and imploring him to eat at Burger King.

Finally, Herb was revealed to the public. He was played by John Menick, a classically trained 35-year-old actor who donned glasses, white socks, and pants that didn't quite reach his ankles. Herb's nerdish persona was hawked in all sorts of advertising gimmickry including tee-shirts which read "I dated Herb."

NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE lampooned the campaign by holding a mock press conference with Herb and his lawyer pleading with the American public to let the man be and give him back his anonymity.

John Menick made personal appearances at Burger King restaurants nationwide, giving prizes to anyone who first recognized him when he entered the burger joints.

One year later, Herb and his popularity fizzled (or as one reporter put it "the Herb campaign wilted like week-old lettuce." Before totally fading away from the public eye, Herb appeared in a "Wrestlemania 2" video in 1986.

The Herb the Nerd ad campaign was created by the J. Walter Thompson Co. ad agency and became one of the decade's biggest failures.  

External Links

• Jon Menick (IMDb)
• Burger King Website

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