Capital Magazine | Burger King jokes with an insensitive publicity to culture

Now, it is Burger King. The fast food chain has raised criticism on social networks after posting an ad showing customers trying to eat hamburgers with Asian chopsticks.

The company released a video clip in which customers were trying to take the new "sweet pepper vietnamese burger" with large red chopsticks. Social network users say that advertising, which was posted on Instagram, is culturally insensitive and plays with stereotypes. The ad said, "Take your taste buds to Ho Chi Minh City."

The announcement was subsequently withdrawn and Burger King apologized, saying that it was "insensitive and did not reflect our brand's values ​​in terms of diversity and inclusion".

"We have asked our New Zealand franchise to immediately withdraw the announcement," the company, owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc., said in a statement.

Although the ad was removed from Burger King New Zealand's Instagram account, the tweets that returned the original ad became viral, attracting more than 2.7 million views.

At the end of last year, luxury goods company Dolce & Gabbana made a similar mistake, which led Chinese e-commerce sites to stop selling the company's products.

This error could result in damage to the business given Burger King's ambitious growth plans in Asia, particularly in China, where last year opened about 100 new restaurants to reach nearly 1,000 establishments. In February, Restaurant Brands opened its first Tim Hortons coffee in China and announced plans to open more than 1,500 stores in the next ten years.

According to Brent McGoldrick, director general of strategic communications at FTI Consulting, companies are making more mistakes in advertising because they take risks to reach consumers who are increasingly distracted and inundated with content.

"When you make a mistake with something like that, you completely damage the ability to conduct any kind of interesting or positive viral dialogue, and now almost everything becomes negative," he said.