"Women belong in the Kitchen", says Burger King

“Women belong in the kitchen,” says Burger King – Burger King UK received a massive negative response on their International Women’s Day tweet. Recently, to gain attention on International Women’s Day, Burger King made a move by tweeting “Women belong in the kitchen.”.

Certainly, these five words tweeted by Burger King on International Women’s Day (8th March) gained negative momentum. This advertising stunt certainly backfired badly on Burger King as social media burst out with reactions.

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“Women belong in the kitchen.“- tweet clarification by Burger King

The tweet was for a campaign promoting a cooking scholarship for female employees. Their approach, however, got them under the social media grill. Finally after the calls of boycott started on social media platforms, the brand later made several tweets to apologize, and then deleted the original tweet after receiving the backlash. The company tried to explain their new camping by making several follow up tweets. But, netizens hook up with the first tweet itself.

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

Moreover, the brand also promoted the campaign in print media. In particular, in the United States, the Burger King Foundation ran a full-page ad in the New York Times with the same headline, “Women belong in the kitchen,” highlighted in a bold font.

Only 24% of chef positions in US are occupied by women.

That’s why the BK Foundation launched a culinary scholarship program to bring more women to leadership positions in the industry.

Women belong in the kitchen if they want to work there. And hopefully in leadership roles. pic.twitter.com/ITwnTJQpDp
— Fer Machado (@fer_machado123) March 8, 2021

However, the ad in question by Burger King was to announce the launch of its H.E.R. (Helping Equalize Restaurants) Scholarship, which offers financial assistance to women who work at Burger King and aspire to an academic degree in culinary arts.

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After deleting the post, Netizens bashed Burger King for their double standard tweets. There was a wave of reactions by netizens towards the fast-food brand for making the first tweet and mentioning it as humorous. And adding to the reaction, the Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery start-up Zomato also posted hilarious reactions.

How did Zomato React?

Stealing the limelight yet again, another blockbuster marketing initiative was Zomato’s quirky reaction to Burger King’s tweet. “YES, WOMEN SHOULD BE IN THE KITCHEN grabbing a belan to beat up everyone who says so”, read the hilarious tweet.

YES, WOMEN SHOULD BE IN THE KITCHEN

grabbing a belan to beat up everyone who says so
— zomato (@zomato) March 8, 2021

Creating the controversial tweet, netizens definitely compared the branding strategies of both the brands but Zomato’s branding and marketing strategy definitely proved hilarious and fruitful for the brand. Burger King and Zomato both posted on Twitter as well as Instagram. Burger King deleted the controversial tweet from twitter, but the post still exists on Instagram.

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Twitter account associated with KFC also tweeted

Furthermore, adding to the controversial chain of reactions, a twitter account associated with KFC also made comments and tweets. The account sarcastically posted a tweet that said Burger King should have deleted the tweet after sending it.

“Why would we delete a tweet that’s drawing attention to a huge lack of female representation in our industry,” Burger King replied.

pic.twitter.com/QmJiwOGgZZ
— KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) March 8, 2021

The Burger King Foundation’s H.E.R. (Helping Equalize Restaurants) Scholarship will give two female employees a grant of $25,000 each to be used toward culinary education. The brand defended their move by stating further:

Our “thought process” is that women are shockingly underrepresented in our industry, and we thought it was time we did something about it. We’ve created a scholarship to give more of our female employees the chance to pursue a culinary career.
–Burger King (@BurgerKingUK)

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)

However, no amount of clarifications could stop the netizens from tweeting and commenting their views on this sexist tweet and their campaign marketing strategy. Many people took it in a serious manner, while many considered it as a meme material to gain publicity.

Netizens on Facebook reacted with a laughing emoji. Several commenters criticized the tweet while many others said there should have been a better way to promote the new initiative.