International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March every year. The day is intended to laud the accomplishments and achievements of women across the world, as well as make a case for women’s equality. Several brands and companies tweak their marketing campaigns to suit the occasion. However, one such campaign drew immense flak on social media. Burger King UK shared a Twitter post with the text, “Women belong in the kitchen,” in an attempt to talk about their new scholarship program. The same text was used on Instagram and a print advertisement as well. Take a look:

The original tweet by Burger King received over 116k likes and 38k retweets before it was deleted. The intention behind Burger King’s Women’s Day post was to draw attention to the lack of women chefs at leadership positions in the culinary world. They also wanted to share the news about the new scholarship program by Burger King UK for their women chefs to take up a professional career in the field. “There aren’t enough female chefs in the restaurant industry. So, this International Women’s Day, we’ve created a scholarship to help give more of our female employees the chance to pursue a culinary career. #IWD #InternationalWomensDay,” they wrote with their post.

However, the original message got lost amid severe lashing out by social media users. Burger King then deleted the original tweet and issued an apology on Twitter. “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,” they said in their post. They also said that they would do better next time around. Take a look at their 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

(Also Read: Burger King France Gave Away Free Potatoes To Customers; The Reason Will Impress You)

Social media users on Twitter and Instagram severely criticised Burger King UK for using a sexist statement to get users to click on their tweet. Many pointed out that the whole purpose of the tweet was lost due to their casual approach to gender issues. Several also volunteered to ‘help out’ with the next year’s Women’s Day campaign.

Take a look at the reactions:

Surprised it took you so long to address this since you had the foresight to script a reply tweet to people who criticised you.

Screams to me that you expected backlash but decided to go ahead anyway. pic.twitter.com/DrpEPvNBuQ— foxrocket✨ (@f0xrocket) March 8, 2021

So just delete it?

or are those likes and retweets worth more to you?— ???? Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) March 8, 2021

I am so saddened by this. My heart is breaking we still need to have this conversation. Do better. Be better. Have more respect for us please.— JoJo Abbasi (@TheSocialJoy) March 9, 2021

Isn’t “Burger King” inherently sexist? Why not “Burger Royal” for more inclusiveness?— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) March 8, 2021

I don’t accept this apology. You kept defending the horrific tweet after hundreds of women told you it was incredibly inappropriate and what baffles me is that anyone thought this was a good idea in the first place, if 2020 taught us anything it’s that oppression is not a joke.— Jackie???? (@jxckie_dv) March 8, 2021

maybe you shouldn’t use misogyny as a joke in the first place??? come on.— sydney! (@belovedsranboo) March 8, 2021

Next year how about Burger Queen for the day?— Lucy (@lucy_anne88) March 8, 2021

What did you think of Burger King UK’s campaign? Tell us in the comments below.

About Aditi AhujaAditi loves talking to and meeting like-minded foodies (especially the kind who like veg momos). Plus points if you get her bad jokes and sitcom references, or if you recommend a new place to eat at.