It probably wasn’t how they expected it.
In honor of International Women’s Day, several companies and brands are using social media to share messages of support or promote their own relevant initiatives for employees. Burger King UK apparently tried to make the latter, but has since been criticized for its statements, which the fast-food chain seemed to playfully present.
On Monday, Burger King’s UK account tweeted a message simply saying “women should stay in the kitchen”. The brand followed up with another tweet, clarifying that women should only be in the kitchen “if they want to, of course”.
“However, only 20% of chefs are women. We are on a mission to change the gender ratio in the restaurant industry, empowering employees with the opportunity to pursue a culinary career,” the second tweet enlightened.
The company concluded announcing a scholarship program “that will help Burger King employees pursue their culinary dreams!”
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The initial post, however, drew some harsh criticism from fans.
“The shameful Burger King totally out of service,” said one user wrote. “Not least on Women’s Day!”
“Making misogynous baits is kind of wrong”, another said, criticizing not only the initial post, but the alleged intention of Burger King of the United Kingdom to use the controversial statement to attract readers.
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“I realized that you were using this comment as bait for a bigger conversation to really empower women,” someone else explained. “But listen to all the women saying that using a sexist comment as bait is not cool. This was the first tweet I saw on International Women’s Day.”
Other brands responded to Burger King’s tweet, with KFC’s United Kingdom account posting a meme with the reading: “The best time to delete this post was immediately after posting it. The second best time is now.”
Burger King United Kingdom answered to the KFC post, writing: “Why would we delete a tweet that is drawing attention to a huge lack of female representation in our industry, we think you would also agree with that? We launched a scholarship to help give more of our employees the chance to pursue a culinary career. “
In a statement obtained by Fox News, a Burger King spokesman added that the brand is “committed to helping women break through a male-dominated culinary culture in the world’s fine restaurants – and that sometimes requires calling attention to the problem that we’re trying to help fix. “
The statement continues: “Our tweet in the UK today was designed to draw attention to the fact that only a small percentage of chefs and chefs are women. It was our mistake not to include the full explanation in our initial tweet and to adjust our activity by moving forward. because we are sure that when people read our entire commitment, they will share our belief in this important opportunity. “
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Burger King also confirmed to Fox News that it has created a new scholarship program called HER (Helping Equalize Restaurants) to help its female members pursue degrees in culinary arts. The network also said that its HER initiative, which is part of the Burger King Foundation Scholarship Program, has already awarded “more than $ 3 million in scholarships to support women team members to achieve their educational goals in North America. “.