confused meme bk tweet women belong in the kitchen


March 8 marks International Women's Day, a day to bring focal attention to the many political, economic, and cultural contributions women have made throughout history, while also shining a light on the many issues women still face today in areas like access to education, reproductive rights, and of course, equality in the workplace.


It's no surprise by this point that, as with any major event, holiday, or movement, many a brand has latched onto the day with their own 'woke' tweets. The folks at Burger King UK decided to tackle the issue of gender disparity in the foodservice industry with a tweet that truly takes the cake for awful brand tweets:


Burger King @BurgerKingUK · 9h Women belong in the kitchen.


Yikes. 


Now, in all fairness they did follow up shortly thereafter with a longer explanation of the intent behind the original message:


Burger King @BurgerKingUK · 9h If they want to, of course. Yet only 20% of chefs are women. We're on a mission to change the gender ratio in the restaurant industry by empowering female employees with the opportunity to pursue a culinary career. #IWD Burger King @BurgerKingUK · 7h We are proud to be launching a new scholarship programme which will help female Burger King employees pursue their culinary dreams!


That's all well and good I suppose, but it wasn't enough to stop them from getting roasted online.









KFC Actually tried to playfully call them out on it but - in a move that seems ironically inspired by a sandwich KFC serves - BK decided to double down:



Some users even pointed out that there was DEFINITELY space for the entire thing to fit into a single tweet. 

tweet showing BK IWD message could've fit into one message


The decision to split it up the way they did seems even more tasteless because it's clearly a desperate attempt to gain virality for all the wrong reasons.


 

It appears this entire message was a fully-realized campaign that ran internationally, and the print version of it that ran in the New York Times has already been distributed to the public.



Awkward! 


GIF jay z - animated GIF on GIFER - by Mejin