In a move that absolutely will not backfire and result in viral videos of terrifying clowns menacing the customers of their local fast food franchises, Burger King has come up with the brilliant idea of offering free food to customers who slather on the clown greasepaint this Halloween.

What could possibly go wrong?

First off, even though Burger King is making a big media push about this clown promotion, it won’t be available at most BK locations. In fact, only select Burger Kings in Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, Austin, and Salt Lake City will be offering a free Whopper to customers who come in dressed like clowns.

So not only will BK have to deal with angry customers who want to know why they didn’t get a free Whopper — those customers will be dressed like the ghost-faced embodiment of millions of childhood nightmares.

Also, the promotion doesn’t take place during the day on Halloween, but between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m., meaning there will be scores of wannabe Pennywises terrifying customers and employees until the wee hours of the morning.

In reality, this entire promotion appears to be a way for BK to publicly take a dig at Ronald McDonald, the longtime mascot — scary in his own right — of the chain’s arch-nemesis.

This is all but confirmed by Burger King’s promotional video for the deal, which features a demonized clown — who looks an awful lot like Ronald — terrorizing a Burger King customer.

This, of course, could lead McDonald’s fans to feel a bit slighted. Perhaps resulting in yet another Burger King lobby full of taunting Ronald McDonald clowns.

Still, if you’re willing to take your chances for a free Whopper, you better be quick about it. The promotion only applies to the first 500 clown-dressed customers.

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