This Fan Might Be Responsible For The Return Of Burger King's Italian Chicken Sandwich

It's a Twitter troll's dream come true. Okay, "troll" wouldn't be the right word — sorry, Pete Neubacher. Whatever the word is for a person who is so singularly focused on bringing back a discontinued Burger King sandwich that they tweet about it relentlessly for seven years until BK relents ... how about "Stan"?

Neubacher might be "president and only member of the Burger King Italian Original Chicken Fan Club," as he states on his Twitter profile page. He might have less than 100 followers (for the moment). But Burger King definitely noticed Neubacher's persistent tweets, and that persistence most definitely paid off.

Neubacher may have "stanned" the Italian Original Chicken Sandwich, but now Burger King stans him. For a limited time only, Neubacher has taken over the BK Twitter account, which has been renamed "pete stan account" (via Twitter). But more to the point, the Italian Chicken Sandwich is back — also for a limited time only.

At 9:34 a.m. EST on Monday, November 22, Burger King tweeted that it was handing the keys to the account to Pete Neubacher, founding (and sole) member of the Burger King Italian Original Chicken Fan Club. Under Neubacher's control, Burger King Twitter posted a 37-second ad explaining the situation. "I can't let a Burger King tweet go by without putting a comment on there. It's like my thing; everybody knows me for it," Neubacher tells BK's director of advertising at the beginning of the ad. This good-natured trolling went on for seven years. Burger King wasn't annoyed; in fact, the fast food chain sympathized. "Look at this crispy chicken, the marinara sauce, and melty mozzarella," the voiceover says, while the camera zooms in on the sandwich for a close-up. "How could you not tweet about it for seven years?"

Then the voiceover goes on to give Neubacher sole credit for the return of the Italian Original Chicken Sandwich, saying, "We brought it back #ForPetesSake." Burger King and Pete Neubacher prove that the American dream is still alive, at least in the realm of fast food marketing. All you need is persistence ... and a Twitter account.