icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
18 Jan, 2016 16:22

Gourmet Burger backlash: Restaurant ads make vegetarians’ blood boil

Gourmet Burger backlash: Restaurant ads make vegetarians’ blood boil

An upmarket burger chain will scrap posters from its latest advertising campaign in the UK after an apparent attempt to turn vegetarians over to meat was met with a wave of anger.

Posters pasted up by restaurant group Gourmet Burger Kitchen at London tube stations display messages telling non-meat eaters that “resistance is futile” and “You’ll always remember when you gave up being a vegetarian.”

One advert depicts a cow sitting below the ominous caption: “They eat grass so you don’t have to.”

Gourmet Burger Kitchen has more than 60 outlets across the UK and does serve some veggie options.

But the chain’s supposedly light-hearted campaign has been largely trashed online. In fact, vegetarians aren’t digesting it well at all.

Meanwhile, some Twitter users have taken to using the hashtag #gourmetmurderkitchen to describe the eatery’s actions. 

The meaty marketing comes during ‘Veganuary,’ when people commit to plant-based eating and giving up animal products for at least a month.

“The last thing we ever intended to do was offend or alienate vegetarians,” Gourmet Burger Kitchen said in an online statement.

“Our intentions were light-hearted and not meant to cause any offence, but clearly we have, and for that we apologize.”

We've been reading the reaction to our latest advertising campaign and needless to say, we're quite taken aback. The...

Posted by Gourmet Burger Kitchen on Monday, January 18, 2016

Podcasts
0:00
26:13
0:00
24:57