In the fight to save net neutrality, the fair and open internet had a big hurdle to overcome: the fact that most people just flat-out don’t understand what it is. It doesn’t help that the name “net neutrality” itself seems to put people to sleep.
Last month, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the Obama-era Open Internet Order. That order served to guarantee internet service providers treat all data on the internet the same, meaning they can’t slow down your Netflix or your PornHub or your Facebook based on, say, how much money those sites pay to speed them up or their competitors pay to slow them down.
Again, that was once a rule. Now it’s not. This is something everyone should care about, and clearly, a lot of people do, based on the 22 million public comments left on the FCC website. (Which were undermined by the reported tens of thousands of fraudulent comments the FCC refuses to look into.) But the FCC still voted to overturn the order mandating net neutrality. They (and a whole bunch of senators and congressional reps) were counting on people not caring, not understanding the issue.
The fight for net neutrality–seriously, can we get that a better name–isn’t over. Senate Democrats are forcing a vote to overturn the FCC’s ruling. That means we need all hands on deck, calling our senators. That also means we need to make this issue as understandable as possible.
Burger King, as unlikely an ally as they may be, has now joined the fight to save net neutrality.
In the ad above, Burger King “employees” change the prices on their “actual guests,” forcing them to wait exceptionally long times for their Whoppers unless they order the faster, more expensive Whopper plan. Or they always have the option to order chicken.
This isn’t the first time Burger King (in a partnership with Change.org) has broken down important issues like this. Remember their surprisingly effective anti-bullying PSA from a few months back?
If it takes burgers to get people to understand and get angry about the repeal of net neutrality, then bring on the burgers. (And check out Change.org while you’re at it.)
(via Twitter, image: YouTube)
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