MILWAUKEE -- Suburpia Submarine Sandwich Shoppes Inc. has a 'beef' with an ad being run by Wendy's hamburgers that Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale latched onto.
Suburpia, a Milwaukee firm, said the Wendy's 'Where's the Beef?' ad is a direct ancestor of one it ran in the 1970s.
It has asked Wendy's for compensation.
The Suburpia and 'Where's the Beef?' ads had the same producer.
The Suburpia ad, which ran in 1979, showed a man ordering a cheeseburger through the nose of a sculptured clown and having a large bun delivered by the clown's tongue. The man was shown opening the burger, and upon seeing a small patty, asking, 'Where's the meat?'
In the Wendy's ads, Clara Peller, confronted by a small patty on a large, fluffy hamburger bun, asks, 'Where's the beef?'
Mondale has used the retort to respond to Sen. Gary Hart's 'new ideas' campaign oratory.
In a letter in February to Wendy's International and its New York City ad agency, Suburpia President William Drilias said both ads had been produced by Joe Sedelmaier of Chicago.
'This common denominator (the retort) allows no room for arguments of independent thought and creativity,' Drilias said. 'Compensation for your appropriation of our award-winning commercial is due.'
Wendy's replied that the Suburpia claim 'is based neither on the facts nor the law.'
Wendy's has registered a trademark on the phrase, and spent $16 million on ads using it.
Sedelmaier told The Milwaukee Sentinel 'I see no problem at all. I think they are two entirely different commercials.'
A man who had worked with Sedelmaier on the Suburpia ad said it was first thought to use 'Where's the Beef?' but then it was decided it worked better to say 'Where's the meat?'
