Many fast-food chains have been entering the gaming scene in order to promote their products. With the beginning of Wendy’s “Keep-it-Fresh” campaign in Fortnite, to KFC starting their dedicated gaming account on Twitter. In fact, KFC even promoted a gaming console that doubles as a chicken warmer. It was all fun and games until Burger King tweeted a tactless tweet on Women’s day though, and KFC Gaming just had to call them out.
The Tweet
The relevant Burger King tweet is from its UK Twitter account. On Women’s Day, Burger King UK tweeted “Women Belong in the kitchen.”. Burger King seems to have had good intentions with this tweet, however, with the intent to inform that only 20% of women are chefs and that they are opening a scholarship program for its employees to continue their “culinary dreams”. The tweet was not well-received though and it became the subject of several complaints.
The Response
Upon seeing the tweet, KFC Gaming immediately replied with a meme that says “The best time to delete this post was immediately after posting it. The second best time is now.”. Many people agreed with KFC Gaming and are requesting Burger King take it down. Burger King, on the other hand, has insisted that the tweet is bringing light to the fact that oftentimes women do not have the same opportunities to pursue their dreams.
— KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) March 8, 2021
The Aftermath
A day after the commotion, Burger King tweeted an apology, saying “We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we’re sorry.” re-stating that they only want to bring insight into the gender imbalance in professional chefs in the industry. An hour later, the original tweet of Burger King was removed and they followed it up with a tweet saying “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.”.
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
