It seemed like the entire world turned upside down last week. No, I'm not referring to the historic summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jon Un, nor am I talking about Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson getting engaged after a few weeks of dating. I'm talking about IHOP.
I never thought I would EVER be writing about IHOP. In my mind, and probably a lot of other people's minds, they are just a cheap pancake restaurant. They have good food, but they really don't stand out in any way. My friends and I have never been sitting around and said, "You know what I'm craving right now? IHOP". It seems that 'IHOP' also realized that they were just another basic, quick breakfast restaurant. It was on June 11 that the pancake joint decided to break the internet.
All of a sudden, 'IHOb' was born. The International House of Burgers. The restaurant announced on their Twitter account that they were temporarily changing their name in order to promote other foods that they sell. But don't worry, they still have pancakes.
As human beings, it seems like we hate change. Naturally, when IHOP/IHOb made this announcement, people were freaking out. People were posting their thoughts on almost every social media platform you can imagine, articles were being written, and it even made national headlines.
Sooner or later, Twitter was going crazy. Other restaurant accounts began to poke fun at IHOP's name change; including Wendy's and White Castle. However, Burger King decided they were going to take this to a whole new level...
Pancake KingCBS Philly
Burger King actually went out of their way to change their entire Twitter account. They updated their cover photo, profile picture, and name.
While people thought it was so funny how IHOP was getting roasted all over the internet, I don't think people realize this is probably exactly what IHOP wanted the whole time. They wanted people to post all over social media about it, and they probably didn't mind other restaurants giving them a hard time about it. IHOP seemed to be the most trending topic for days. If you google IHOP now, articles are still being written about the restaurant!
Causing this must controversy is just giving them free advertising. Think about this; have you seen a commercial on TV promoting their name change to 'IHOb'? I know I haven't. There is no need for them to pay for commercials on-air. The power of the internet and social media already got their point across. Everybody already knows about it.
Burger King changing their entire Twitter account was very funny. However, this only promotes IHOP/IHOb even more. Everybody knows what Burger King was trying to refer to.
While people have different opinions about the new name, I think changing it was the smartest idea any restaurant could have come up with. Because they have been known as the International House of Pancakes for so long, they knew that people would go nuts over changing the name to a food completely unrelated to breakfast.
As the internet keeps going after IHOP, I think it's only making them more popular.
Say what you want about the new IHOb, but I think their burgers actually look really good. I might be trying one in the near future!
IHOb BurgersDelish.com
