Thanks to “It” and “American Horror Story: Cult,” scary clowns are all the rage for Halloween this year, and Burger King is taking advantage of that craze to take a shot at McDonald’s.
On Thursday, the fast food chain announced Scary Clown Day, offering free Whoppers to the first 500 people dressed up as a creepy clown on Halloween night. Participating locations can be found in Miami, Boston, L.A., Austin and Salt Lake City.
In the commercial announcing the promotion, a teen on a bicycle has a very “It”-like encounter with a clown who suspiciously resembles Ronald McDonald. Cue a horror movie chase as the teen frantically pedals to Burger King with a legion of creepy clowns chasing after him.
Once he gets inside, he finds the Burger King filled with clowns, as the Ronald McDonald ripoff comes up to him and growls, “I want my Whopper.”
This isn’t the first time Burger King has crossed paths with creepy clowns recently. In Russia, BK wanted to have “It” banned from theaters because they saw it as free advertising for McDonald’s.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Burger King turned “It” into a feature-length ad for their Whoppers by adding a text card at the end of an advance screening with their logo and the phrase, “The moral of the story is: Never Trust a Clown.”
Watch Burger King’s ad in the clip above.