Whenever McDonald’s un-retires its McRib sandwich, it’s an event. People react quite favorably to the boneless pork slab that gets lathered in barbecue sauce. So much so, in fact, McDonald’s has done a good job capitalizing on the sandwich’s popularity and they play it up a great deal with their associated marketing pushes, as you can clearly see:

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Apparently, after years of letting McDonald’s bask in the glow that is the American population’s desire for pork sandwich bliss, a contender has decided to step up and grab some of that spotlight for themselves. At least, that’s the plan according Burger King, and the reports of the upcoming release of what’s being called the “McRib buster,” aka, the BK Rib Sandwich. While the official release has yet to be broadcast, information about Burger King’s upcoming summer menu, which will feature the McRib contender, have been hitting the `tubes:

Burger King on Thursday will unveil its 2013 summer menu plans, highlighted by a new, limited-time BK Rib Sandwich, which is boneless like McRib — has a tangy sauce and comes with sweet bread and butter pickles. It will be sold nationally beginning May 21.

BK’s other summer roll-outs include a return of Memphis Pulled Pork sandwiches, a line of Carolina BBQ sandwiches and sweet potato fries. It also will introduce a new BBQ Chicken Salad and line of Oreo-infused desserts. All of the products, including the rib sandwich, will be available only though the summer.

An image of the upcoming delicacy:

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As the description of the BK Rib Sandwich reveals–“has a tangy sauce and comes with sweet bread and butter pickles”–if you can’t beat the McRib, why not copy it? Whatever the case, I just hope the upcoming marketing push for BK’s summer menu/McRib contender features Darius “Hootie” Rucker: