Everything
Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and one of the most significant talking points online was this Burger King tweet.
Burger King baiting people with a "women belong in the kitchen" tweet so they would angry-click through a thread – on International Women's Day – gets even nuttier when you realize a TEAM of people had to approve this pic.twitter.com/vVz0JZGsUi
— jacksfilms (@jacksfilms) March 8, 2021
Large corporations love nothing more than hijacking a global narrative in the interest of self-promotion and International Women’s Day proved the perfect platform for Burger King.
The fast-food company was attempting to promote a culinary scholarship program to combat gender disparity in the restaurant industry. Still, the attempt at snatching the limelight was misguided at best, offensive at worst.
Unsurprisingly, this Burger King tweet is not the first time a major corporation has tried (and failed) to master social media.
Since the Burger King tweet went viral – for all the wrong reasons – the company has backpedalled and apologised for the tone-deaf tweet.
We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we’re sorry. Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. We will do better next time.
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021
KFC Gaming tweeted a response to Burger King UK with the caption: “The best time to delete this post was immediately after posting it. The second best time is now.”
Why would we delete a tweet that’s drawing attention to a huge lack of female representation in our industry, we thought you’d be on board with this as well? We've launched a scholarship to help give more of our female employees the chance to pursue a culinary career.
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021
However, the company also took out a full-page ad in the New York Times which featured the same shock-value slogan.
Burger King also placed a full-page ad in today’s print edition of @nytimes pic.twitter.com/TldtbCOlcN
— Hannah Denham (@hannah_denham1) March 8, 2021
Burger King followed up the tweet with two more, explaining it was meant to promote equity among kitchen leadership and a scholarship program.
The timing of the Burger King tweet was no doubt part of the companies social media strategy. Yet, it represents further proof that large corporations don’t know how to get it right when tapping into the zeitgeist online.
In 2011 Japan was laid bare by a crippling tsunami that flattened much of Tokyo, triggering a worldwide relief effort.
Sensing an opportunity, MSN Bing sent a tweet design to simultaneously raise funds while also boost brand awareness.
All it ended up achieving was raising hell, as Twitter users piled on to condemn the opportunistic tweet.
If you thought the Burger King tweet so bad, spare a thought for Cinnabon. In 2015 the baked goods store looked to capitalise on the death of Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher. Cinnabon posted a picture of her as Princess Leia Organa, but with a Cinnabon Classic Roll in place of her famous Star Wars hair-do.
Cinnabon apologizes for tasteless Carrie Fisher tweet https://t.co/k9pOquTK3q pic.twitter.com/F03eA202jO
— Mashable (@mashable) December 28, 2016
The internet pile-on was swift and ruthless (you don’t mess with Star Wars fans), and Cinnabon promptly apologised and deleted the tweet.
It seems even in death; we’re not safe from the heavy-handed social media teams of large corporations.
While the Burger King tweet might be the latest social media slip up from a fast-food chain, ut’s arguably not the worst. Closer to home, we saw KFC appear playful and flirtatious when promoting it’s new Hot and Spicy zinger. Instead, it felt smutty and salacious.
KFC Ad Too 'Hot And Spicy' For Australia. What was the NSFW tag line?https://t.co/ynlLQuDzfG pic.twitter.com/QNr2twv9gI
— Instinct Magazine (@instinctmag) April 16, 2016
Rather than admit defeat, the company maintained it was an innocent mistake, nothing more. “This was a genuine tweet to launch KFC’s new Hot & Spicy chicken products next week. It was not intended to offend, and we’ve removed the image.”
Between the Burger King tweet and KFC’s porn-themed stuff up, we can’t wait to see what massive fail McDonald’s and Hungry Jacks have up their sleeve.
