Burger King’s whopping marketing flop
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2025 4:48 am
As you can see, the above apology Tweet from fast food colossus Burger King earned droves of engagement—for all the wrong reasons.
This Tweet was an attempt at back pedaling from a marketing communication blooper that was swiftly deleted after it sparked outrage across the Web. The initial marketing hook was along the lines of “women belong in the kitchen”, but with little context around it, the controversial slogan became a tagline for sexism. The timing was particularly unfortunate as the tweet went out on International Women’s Day, a day that exists to mark female empowerment and gender equality.
This misguided feat of social media lack data marketing served up a hot slice of reputational battering , earning a regrettable 527% higher engagement than the announcement of the brand’s scholarship program:
3 Marketing Bloopers Digital Marketers Can Learn From
The lesson:
The culinary industry is indeed male dominated and while the sentiment of changing things for the greater good was at the heart of the campaign, it was buried deeper than a slice of pickle in a giant burger stack.
Takeaways:
When you’re developing your marketing campaign messaging for a specific event or celebration:
Share your ideas and content with relevant audiences internally
Gather feedback before signing off
Avoid copy that is overly controversial
Choose language, imagery or concepts very carefully
Use your message to empower your audience, not create a sense of alienation.
Remember, not all publicity is good publicity.
Tip: Consider using a Social Media Style Guide to ensure everyone on your team and working with your brand knows the agreed tone of voice and adapts messaging to all relevant platforms.
This Tweet was an attempt at back pedaling from a marketing communication blooper that was swiftly deleted after it sparked outrage across the Web. The initial marketing hook was along the lines of “women belong in the kitchen”, but with little context around it, the controversial slogan became a tagline for sexism. The timing was particularly unfortunate as the tweet went out on International Women’s Day, a day that exists to mark female empowerment and gender equality.
This misguided feat of social media lack data marketing served up a hot slice of reputational battering , earning a regrettable 527% higher engagement than the announcement of the brand’s scholarship program:
3 Marketing Bloopers Digital Marketers Can Learn From
The lesson:
The culinary industry is indeed male dominated and while the sentiment of changing things for the greater good was at the heart of the campaign, it was buried deeper than a slice of pickle in a giant burger stack.
Takeaways:
When you’re developing your marketing campaign messaging for a specific event or celebration:
Share your ideas and content with relevant audiences internally
Gather feedback before signing off
Avoid copy that is overly controversial
Choose language, imagery or concepts very carefully
Use your message to empower your audience, not create a sense of alienation.
Remember, not all publicity is good publicity.
Tip: Consider using a Social Media Style Guide to ensure everyone on your team and working with your brand knows the agreed tone of voice and adapts messaging to all relevant platforms.