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Vegetarian Gourmet Burger Kitchen Vegan

Gourmet Burger Kitchen ads dissing vegetarians attracted more people than they alienated says survey

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

January 25, 2016 | 2 min read

The Gourmet Burger Kitchen was recently only the receiving end of a powerful social media backlash and alleged boycott from vegetarians after making light of them in an ad campaign.

Following Gourmet Burger Kitchen having to pull an ad campaign and sparking the #gourmetmurderkitchen hashtag after it made fun of vegetarians, OnePulse surveyed 1,500 UK adults about the campaign, and found that more people were willing to eat there as a result of the stunt.

Of the respondents, 12 per cent were vegetarian and 88 per cent were not, they were asked their opinions on the campaign which ran with a trio of ads; among these were the taglines "They eat grass so you don’t have to,” and "Vegetarians, resistance is futile".

When asked what they thought of the slogans, over a quarter of vegetarians said they were “unnecessary”. Just under a quarter said they were “rude” and just over a fifth dubbed them "offensive". Around a tenth a-piece said the ads were either “light-hearted,” “clever” or “funny”.

Over half of the meat-eating respondents said the slots were either “light-hearted” or “funny”. Only 23 per cent branded them “unnecessary” and 11 per cent “offensive”.

On the whole, 73 per cent of those polled said the campaign would have no effect on them eating at GBK.

Fourteen per cent said they were more likely and 13 per cent said they were less likely, resulting in a net gain of one per cent.

Whether or not GBK will see more footfall remains to be seen, however, the campaign seems to have attracted the custom of more people than it alienated.

Vegetarian Gourmet Burger Kitchen Vegan

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