The King Of Sexist Tweeting
A deeper look at how Burger King UK handled its social media disaster.
International Women’s Day is a day meant for celebrating females and throwing out the stigma and biases that have surrounded them for too long. Sadly, it seems that UK Burger King missed the memo of biases and stigma when it came to their tweet on International Women’s Day 2021. The tweet read “Women belong in the kitchen”; this deep and offensive stereotype put Burger King in hot water.
After the tweet went live and Burger King saw how it was offensive, they defended it by saying it was to bring attention to the disparity in female to male chefs. In the U.S. alone statistics show a total of 25.8% of chefs are women, while 70.3 are male. Burger King meant for their string of tweets to empower females in the culinary industry to take initiative with their new scholarship.
Even though this is an amazing initiative being taken on Burger King’s part, it is hard to understand how this tweet was not deleted before posting. A study from 2014 shows similar results to the same study done in 1983 when it comes to gender roles. The participants saw females as more likely to take care of the household. This stereotype is sadly just as strong as ever.
Burger King then deleted the tweet and posted an apology to the public, but many felt it was too late. Even though the tweet was meant for good, the phrase used has so much pain and hardship behind it, that it is hard to see past those five simple words.
Part of using real-time marketing strategies is having the ability to deepen consumer relationships and trust. Two recommendations for Burger King would be to have multiple people proofread tweets so a colossal mistake like this never happens again. Another recommendation in terms of building trust is telling consumers’ stories.
Due to the disparity in female to male chefs, why not tell the story of females paving the way in the culinary industry? Maybe including short quotes or pictures of them be the best inspiration for females looking to join the industry. Instead of using historically oppressive quotes and trying to change them positively (which we have seen is not possible), why not shine a light on the females making the positive change?
Even though Burger King UK never meant for the tweet to be of harm, it caused major outrage. Many articles, videos, and social media responses were made with feelings of disappointment and sadness. It is our job as marketers to understand what can be seen as offensive, and catch it before the “post” button is ever pressed.
