From: Staff reports and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Posted: December 18, 2009

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Good riddance?

We can’t recall the last time a company promoted the end of a product.

Did Ford extol the Edsel? Coke the New Coke?

Yet we have Whataburger buying little ads, setting up toll-free hot lines and Web sites, then paying PR people to call attention to the withdrawal of what is easily the Corpus Christi-based chain’s unhealthiest menu item: The A1 Thick and Hearty Burger.

The burger has lost its pizzazz, said a PR person with SPM Communications of Dallas, who is not authorized to be quoted by name,

Wednesday night, a North Texas hairstylist named Heather was scheduled to mount a "support group" gathering at an Irving Whataburger to mark the Dec. 21 disappearance of the 1,050-calorie, half-pound hamburger that packs 62 grams of fat, according to the chain’s Web site.

Should we mourn the passing of the artery-clogging burger? Or should we be thankful that Whataburger might be prolonging Heather’s life?

For more information on the beloved "Thick and Hearty" burger from Whataburger, click here.