Stories behind the ads

Wendy's: “Where's the Beef?”

Three elderly women inspect a huge bun with a tiny burger, and one demands: "Where's the beef?"

Brand

Wendy's

Year

1984

Category

Fast food

Three elderly women stand at a fast-food counter looking at a giant, fluffy bun. When they lift the top, they find a tiny burger inside. Two of them admire the bun, while the third, played by Clara Peller, keeps shouting "Where's the beef?"

Wendy's used the 1984 ad to suggest that its rivals' burgers had less meat than its own. The catchphrase spread instantly: it appeared on T-shirts and in songs, and US presidential candidate Walter Mondale even used it in a debate to criticise his opponent's lack of ideas.

Few slogans have travelled so quickly from television into everyday language. Four decades later, "Where's the beef?" is still used to ask whether something has real substance.

Watch the full ad on YouTube

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