‘Women belong in the kitchen.’ UK Burger King tweet lands with a thud online
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Twitter users are slamming Burger King United Kingdom after tweets announcing a scholarship for female employees.
On Monday — International Women’s Day — the chain posted a series of tweets announcing a scholarship program to help female Burger King employees pursue careers in the culinary arts.
The first in the series has been decried online as “a flop at attempting to go viral.”
It read: “Women belong in the kitchen.”
The subsequent tweet added: “If they want to, of course.”
Women belong in the kitchen.
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021
We are proud to be launching a new scholarship programme which will help female Burger King employees pursue their culinary dreams!
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021
In the second tweet, Burger King goes on to say that only 20% of chefs are women and that it hopes to empower female workers to achieve their culinary dreams.
Nearly two hours later, Burger King announced the scholarship in a third tweet.
The first tweet has been liked more than 380,000 times as of 11:55 a.m. ET Monday. By comparison, the second and third tweets hadn’t cracked 85,000 and 50,000, respectively.
The backlash was swift.
Some said Burger King shouldn’t have posted about women belonging in the kitchen without including additional context in the same tweet. Others suggested it was an attempt to use shock to make the tweet more visible.
You probably should have included this message in your previous tweet. Not everyone is going to look to see what you have to say after that.
— Reynold (@ignored_the) March 8, 2021
You really shouldn’t use sexism as a clickbait many people are very angry and so am I
— fall (@Autummlov) March 8, 2021
Leading your tweet with misogyny is wrong.
— Joyce (@cosmicdahlia) March 8, 2021
This should have been the 1st tweet. @BurgerKing, women are going to be upset about this tweet. You tried to clean it up but it maybe too late.
— Keith Grant (@KeithGrant09) March 8, 2021
y'all could have avoided this whole issue smh pic.twitter.com/npvd5vsVtU
— CoconutGun98 (@CoconutGun98) March 8, 2021
This tweet has 22,000 retweets.
Your reply tweet has 1,000 retweets.
This is why using sexist remarks as bait is a dumb, dumb idea. The majority of people aren't seeing your positive reply. They're just seeing a sexist comment made by a brand account.— Ryan Brown (@Toadsanime) March 8, 2021
as a marketing exec, let me tell you: this is exactly the move.
— King Snackbird, Trashlord of Hell (@TheSimpleCat) March 8, 2021
It got more traction because of that, they succeeded tbh
— Barry972 (@Barrry972) March 8, 2021
Quite the flop at attempting to go viral. pic.twitter.com/9nsqAozaUm
— Patrick picard (@Patpicos) March 8, 2021
Some didn’t take issue with the tweets.
well played BK well played.
— Devildog (@Devildog_TV) March 8, 2021
Y’all not rockin with Burger King supporting gender equality ️
— Nvy (@nvyszn_) March 8, 2021
Good save
— MattMerkel1 (@MattMerkel1) March 8, 2021
This tweet got so much more wholesome as I read it.
— Ex(?) Army Officer (@staff_ex) March 8, 2021
As commenters began questioning Burger King’s decision, the chain responded by shifting the focus back to the scholarship.
We think it's weird that women make up only 20% of chefs in the UK restaurant industry. That's why we’ve created a scholarship to help give more of our female employees the chance to pursue a culinary career.
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021
To bring attention to the huge lack of female representation in the restaurant industry? Yeah we think it's a good idea, that's why we’ve created a scholarship to help give more of our female employees the chance to pursue a culinary career.
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021
