On International Women's Day, Burger King UK raged a controversy with its tweet that drew wide criticism due to its sexist undertone.
In order to promote its culinary scholarship and encourage women participation Burger King UK tweeted, "Women belong in the kitchen", which has now been deleted. The tweet used for promotion got massive flak from the users of the microblogging site.
"We decided to delete the original tweet after our apology. It was brought to our attention that there were abusive comments in the thread and we don't want to leave the space open for that," the company said.
"We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we are sorry. Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. We will do better next time," Burger King UK added in its Twitter thread.
"Fine dining kitchens, food truck kitchens, award-winning kitchens, casual dining kitchens, ghost kitchens, Burger King kitchens. If there's a professional kitchen, women belong there," the Burger King's non-profit arm Burger King Foundation posted a full page ad in the print version of New York Times on Monday to launch its culinary scholarship program with "Women belong in the kitchen" part taking most of the space.
{{/usCountry}}"Fine dining kitchens, food truck kitchens, award-winning kitchens, casual dining kitchens, ghost kitchens, Burger King kitchens. If there's a professional kitchen, women belong there," the Burger King's non-profit arm Burger King Foundation posted a full page ad in the print version of New York Times on Monday to launch its culinary scholarship program with "Women belong in the kitchen" part taking most of the space.
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"But can you guess who's leading those kitchens these days? Exactly. Only 24% of chef positions in America are occupied by women. Want to talk to head chefs? The number drops to fewer than 7%," the ad continued.
"This is where the H.E.R (Help Equalize Restaurants) Scholarship comes in. It is a commitment from one of the biggest restaurants in the world to help their aspiring female chefs. Because every woman with a passion deserves a chance to advance, whether its a culinary school, a Burger King kitchen or any other kitchen in the world," the ad read.
The Burger King UK continued defending the tweet after many social media users reacted to the advertisement on the particular occasion.
"Our "thought process" is that women are shockingly underrepresented in our industry, and we thought it was time we did something about it. We've created a scholarship to give more of our female employees the chance to pursue a culinary career," the Burger King UK tweeted in response to a user who asked about the thought behind the ad.