A whopping debate has unfolded after a visitor from the US made a video about Hungry Jack’s.
Bodybuilder David Ziegler, also known as ZieglerMonster, boasts a large following on social media, and he’d been visiting Sydney to tour and promote local gyms.
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“We pretty much only focus on gyms that are privately owned and on the smaller side, non-big-box commercial gyms,” the 57-year-old told news.com.au.
“It’s just a way to make sure that those gyms always have a voice and they’re able to be found. The big box commercial gyms, they don’t need any more help.”
During his visit adding gyms to his app, Guest Pass, he stumbled upon Hungry Jack’s, which he noticed had a striking similarity to Burger King back in the States.
“I didn’t know the story, so I thought if other people saw the logo without a Burger King from the States that they would be like, ‘Hey, look at that,’” he said.
Hungry Jack’s History 101
When Canadian-born businessman Jack Cowin attempted to bring the US fast-food giant to Australia, he hit an immediate legal headache.
A local takeaway business in Adelaide had already trademarked the name “Burger King”.
Unable to buy the name, Mr Cowin chose “Hungry Jack” from a list of pre-registered US trademarks, added an apostrophe-S, and opened Australia’s first Hungry Jack’s in Perth in 1971.
By 2001, Mr Cowin fought Burger King in court and won over a breach of contract, before absorbing and rebranding all Australian Burger King locations into Hungry Jack’s.
But it appears the battle has respawned again in the form of TikTok drama, exposing an undesirable trait in Aussies worthy of some self-reflection.
Are we being unreasonably mean to Americans?
In the video Mr Ziegler made about the fast food giant, he made several comparisons.
“Australia, what the heck is this? Hungry Jack’s? This is Burger King,” he said.
The American pointed out both establishments offered the signature Whopper, jokingly claiming after a bite of a burger it was the “king of nothing”.
His video caught the attention of Aussie creator Croc Turnbull, who made a response video declaring the restaurant “American s**t” before calling Americans “f**king dumb as** seppos”.
“You guys invented Google. Why don’t you guys try f**king using it for once,” he said.
He also suggested that the American “put the f**king weights down” and instead “pick up a book”.
“You’ve made this whole video trying to bag out Australians,” he said.
However, Mr Ziegler clapped back, fact-checking the creator’s continual labelling of Hungry Jack’s as “American”, despite it being started by a Canadian and now owned by an Australian company.
“I made this video because I found something very cool and I wanted to share it with my audience, and I did it in a fun and cheeky way,” Mr Ziegler explained.
He explained in the clip how his work gives back to the communities he visits, gaining recognition for small, independently owned gyms.
“You were extremely mean to me. You belittled me, bullied me, you made fun of my entire country, you made fun of my intelligence. You made fun of everything that you could instead of just having a conversation,” he continued.
In the comments section of his post, other Americans raced to pinpoint a common theme.
“He hates America for literally no reason,” a user pointed out.
“Australians are absolutely obsessed with Americans,” another said.
A third added: “Why does Australia have such a one-sided beef with us? I never could figure it out!”
Despite the bitterness, Mr Ziegler told news.com.au that many of the Aussies he encountered were amazing.
“We’ve travelled all over the world, and Australia was such a lovely place to be,” he said.
“The locals were incredibly welcoming and warm, and we felt invited and at home everywhere. Not to mention, some of the best gyms in the entire world are in Australia.”
news.com.au has contacted Croc Turnbull for comment.