Burger King Exec’s Tweets Show Process Before Women’s Day Ad Was Removed
Screenshot via Burger King UK’s Twitter (archived copy)
After a streak of much-enjoyed advertising and branding moves, Burger King suddenly left a bad taste in consumers’ mouths with a campaign launched for International Women’s Day.
To lead up to an announcement that it was paying for culinary education scholarships for female employees, Burger King UK simply tweeted, “Women belong in the kitchen.” This was followed by another tweet: “If they want to, of course.”
While customers understood the intent for female empowerment, many chastised that the campaign could have been handled more proficiently as using an old-fashioned stereotype wasn’t necessary. What made things worse was that sexists were also throwing support for the tweet.
It would take hours before Burger King UK finally took down the online campaign. However, a string of tweets suggests how the company had shuffled behind the scenes before eventually deciding to delete the advertisement. As PR Week notes, it’s rare for customers to be able to see how companies manage crisis in real-time.
Soon after Burger King UK published the controversial tweet, Twitter users swarmed the Twitter account of Fernando Machado, Global Chief Marketing Officer of Burger King parent company Restaurant Brands International, to demand its removal.
Machado first explained that removing the post “would bring more attention to it,” and that Burger King UK wasn’t going to be deterred by a bunch of sexist trolls who agreed with the satirical message.
Just hope people see thru the single tweet wout context and understand the real intent behind this one.
— Fer Machado (@fer_machado123) March 8, 2021
If we stopped doing things because some stupid people do stupid things on the internet we wouldn't do anything ❤️ Our intention is good and I hope people can see thru that over time.
— Fer Machado (@fer_machado123) March 8, 2021
After much back and forth and noting a stream of misogynistic tweets, Machado said the company was “discussing” the next steps. He then updated that Burger King UK would issue an apology and take down the tweet.
I didnt see that. Thats awful. We are discussing here.
— Fer Machado (@fer_machado123) March 8, 2021
We will issue an apology. Because we are indeed sorry about how this came across. The intention behind the activity is actually good. Taking it down would give even more attention to it. Believe it or not I deeply care about doing the right thing. Will do better nxt time.
— Fer Machado (@fer_machado123) March 8, 2021
Burger King UK eventually apologized and announced that it would remove the offending tweet.
We decided to delete the original tweet after our apology. It was brought to our attention that there were abusive comments in the thread and we don't want to leave the space open for that.
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021
[via PR Week, cover image via Burger King UK’s Twitter (archived copy)]
