When ads go bad: Burger King UK’s Women’s Day tweet, the Kendall Jenner Pepsi furore, Donald Trump’s Macy’s mayhem and 3 more sensitivity scandals that shocked us
A recent tweet from Burger King UK that read “women belong in the kitchen” on International Women’s Day unsurprisingly left a bad taste in the mouth of social media users.
The tweet was part of a campaign intended to promote the chain’s launch of an initiative to help increase the number of female head chefs in restaurants. But the initial tweet, which was part of a larger thread, was met with anger and confusion from thousands of social media users, with some describing it as tone-deaf.
As anger mounted, the chain said it was a “mistake” to not include the entirety of the initiative in its first tweet. It later apologised in a follow-up tweet, saying: “We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we’re sorry.”
Read on for other examples of brand campaigns that went off the boil.
Pepsi
Bloomingdales
Luxury department store Bloomingdales faced condemnation back in 2015 when they released an advertisement that appeared to be inspired by date rape in their holiday season catalogue, per The Wall Street Journal.
The ad featured a woman laughing with her head turned away while a sharply dressed man stares at her. The ad copy read: “Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking.”
Consumers took to social media to criticise the inappropriateness and creepiness of the ad, which prompted the firm to issue a public apology via its Twitter account.
“We heard your feedback about our catalogue copy, which was inappropriate and in poor taste. Bloomingdale’s sincerely apologises,” the company tweeted.
KitchenAid
Appliance manufacturer KitchenAid set themselves up for a complete corporate Twitter fail after tweeting a joke about former president Obama’s dead grandmother during the 2017 presidential debate. The tweet read, “Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! She died 3 days b4 he became president. #nbcpolitics”
The reaction prompted the company to immediately delete the tweet and issue an apology for their actions.
Macy’s
Macy’s began selling Trump’s menswear clothing, including US$70 dress shirts, US$65 ties, cufflinks and watches in 2004, as reported by Fortune.
The decision to terminate its relationship with the businessman-turned-president came after he referred to immigrants from Mexico as “killers and rapists”, CNN reported.
Victoria’s Secret
Lingerie and clothing retailer Victoria’s Secret was heavily criticised for an ad that featured the slogan “The Perfect Body”.
The tagline, which referred to the brand’s Body by Victoria lingerie line, featured images of Victoria’s Secret Angels on the company’s website and stores in the UK.
The ad sparked the Twitter hashtag #iamperfect as it played on women’s insecurities and sent out damaging messages about female body image, The Huffington Post reported.
- Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad appeared to exploit protests like #BlackLivesMatter while KitchenAid tweeted a joke about Barack Obama’s dead grandmother
- Victoria’s Secret’s ‘The Perfect Body’ tagline was criticised for body shaming while a Bloomingdales’ ad seemed to condone date rape