- Title: Burger King tweets 'Women belong in the kitchen' on International Women's Day
- Date: 8th March 2021
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - SEPTEMBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) (MUTE) EXTERIOR OF BURGER KING BRANCH
- Embargoed: 22nd March 2021 18:37
- Keywords: Burger King International Women's Day Women's Day male-dominated cooking industry women belong in kitchen
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA007E38545J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A tweet from Burger King UK to promote its new scholarship for female chefs has gotten thousands of negative and sarcastic responses - and, "It's not something they wanted linked to the Burger King brand" says brand expert Allen Adamson.
The burger chain tweeted "Women belong in the kitchen" on on International Women's Day Monday (March 8), which immediately spurred angry and tongue-in-cheek responses on the social media site Twitter.
Some users said the tweet was "tone-deaf" and pledged not to eat at the restaurant.
Burger King followed up the tweet with two more, explaining it was meant to promote equity among kitchen leadership and a scholarship program.
"We're on a mission to change the gender ratio in the restaurant industry by empowering female employees with the opportunity to pursue a culinary career," the company tweeted.
"We are proud to be launching a new scholarship programme which will help female Burger King employees pursue their culinary dream!"
But Adamson said the provocative original tweet missed the mark.
"They tried to be too clever and too creative," said Adamson, the co-founder of Metaforce.
"Challenge of a tweet - It stands on its own. It's not the beginning of a conversation, it's usually the entire conversation. So, saying 'women belong in the kitchen' is the punch line and the headline that's now linked to the Burger King brand," he said.
Burger King declined to do an interview, but in a written statement, the fast food chain said it was "committed to helping women break through a male-dominated culinary culture in the world's fine dining restaurants."
"Our tweet in the UK today was designed to draw attention to the fact that only a small percentage of chefs and head chefs are women. It was our mistake to not include the full explanation in our initial tweet and have adjusted our activity moving forward because we're sure that when people read the entirety of our commitment, they will share our belief in this important opportunity," the statement read.
The Burger King statement said the program, H.E.R. (Helping Equalize Restaurants) Scholarship, has awarded more than $3 million in scholarships in North America.
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