SpongeBob Greets
Drive-Through Visitors
At Wilder Road Burger King

Danger! Danger!
Could SpongeBob Be
A Target for 'SpongeNappers?'

December 7, 2004
By: O. J. Cunningham

A bright, yellow, cheery, square face welcomes patrons of the drive-through at Burger King at the 3910 E. Wilder Road restaurant - near the Bay City Mall.

It's SpongeBob SquarePants - part of a promotional marketing effort among nationwide Burger King Restaurants.

But is our local SpongeBob in any danger? Are there "SpongeNappers afoot?

Miami-based Burger King has been inflicted with a spate of "Spongenappings" that began Nov. 11 in which vandals made off with several gigantic blow-up SpongeBob Squarepants figures that were perched on rooftops of different restaurants across the country.

Alana Holliday, Assistant General Manager of the local Burger King store, says she's not really worried about her "Bob." "The roof is pretty high off the ground," Holliday said in an excusive MyBayCity interview on Wednesday.


Holliday also said that the company hasn't taken any specific security measures to protect the local SpongeBob from would-be "Nappers."

"We don't feel security is really an issue in the Bay City area," Holliday said.

But still, a number of SpongeBobs have been abducted. And according to CNN/MONEY, Burger King really wants its SpongeBob inflatables back. The burger chain is offering a one-year's supply of free Whoppers, salads or any other item on its menu as a reward for information leading to their safe return.

"As to the motives behind these apparent 'Spongenappings,' we can only speculate. We did receive one ransom note related to an inflatable SpongeBob disappearance in Minnesota," Russ Klein, Burger King's chief national marketing officer, said in a recent statement

"Burger King Corporation does not condone and strongly discourages anyone from going on rooftops or doing anything illegal to swipe a SpongeBob SquarePants Inflatable," Klein said.

"We are concerned about our missing, massive sponges and the effect their absence is having on SpongeBob fans, employees, children and parents everywhere. We hope the reward will help these AWOL SpongeBobs find their way home," he added.

Anyone with information about the missing SpongeBobs is asked to call (305) 378-3998. If the tip leads to the safe return of the inflatables, the reward will be paid in "Burger Bucks," good for a year's supply of original Whopper sandwiches.

However, the reward only applies to SpongeBobs that were 'Spongenapped' in the month of November, the company said.

Ebay Link to Buy A SpongeBob for $14,999