Burger King’s

“Women belong in
the kitchen”
Advertisement
Campaign
Presented by: Grace Egan
What + When

● Launched March 8th, 2021

● Two parts of the campaign
○ The hook
○ The goal
● Main goal of promoting Burger
King
● Ad Intent
○ Drawing attention to only 20% of
professional UK chefs are women
■ Help change through Helping
Equalize Restaurants (HER)
scholarships
What Worked Well ● Attention drawn and creation of HER
scholarship
○ $25,000 awarded to two Burger King
employees
○ Must have been working at a Burger King
for at least 6 months to qualify
○ Must be a graduating US high school
senior or have a GED
● Hook is an attention grabber
○ It drew eyes to our company and allowed
us to state what we value most—women
in the workforce
The Dilemma

● The hook
○ ‘Women belong in the kitchen’ is a
well-known misogynist phrase
○ It grabbed our audiences attention but
the hook did not direct customers to our
goal
● Public response overwhelmingly
negative
○ The phrase is upsetting
○ Reminded customers of the issues that
still affect women today
● Timing on International Women’s
Day
○ People looking to uplift/honor the
achievements of women
■ Not for them to be put down

● Misogynist comments are offensive

○ Critique of the phrase should come from
experts not from Burger King
○ We address the issue not point out the
issue
○ Careless without context and still
shocking with context of advertisement

The Dilemma Cont.

Recommendations

Change or get rid of the hook

● Lead with HER scholarship
● ‘Happy International Women’s
Day!’
● ‘Yes Chef!’
● Promotional deal across UK
Burger King franchises
○ Expensive
● Lead with famous female cook
○ Requires permission
Controlling the Burn ● Take down Tweet and apologize for
previous statement
○ Pivot!
■ Tie in main goal of promoting HER
scholarships
■ Turn attention to the goal(s)
○ Draft Tweet shown left

● Sensitivity training for Advertising

Department