Gourmet Burger Kitchen ads rile vegetarians in an attempt to entice more 'carnivores'
Gourmet Burger Kitchen is latest brand upsetting London Underground commuters with a tongue-in-cheek campaign looking to tempt vegetarians to eat meat.
Protestors promised a boycott of the burger chain in response to a trio of ads running with taglines like ‘You’ll always remember when you gave up being a vegetarian,’ ‘Vegetarians, resistance is futile’ and ‘They eat grass so you don’t have to’ which displayed a resting cow.
The campaign sparked guerrilla retaliation.
@gbkburgers Distasteful, disgraceful PR.. Great way to lose customers! #gourmetmurderkitchen pic.twitter.com/hXxwvhAVHO
— Phil Lee (@Bill_Froog) January 16, 2016
An online backlash also ran on social media under the hashtag #gourmetmurderkitchen.
Dear @gbkburgers, Your terrible adverts and this offer is why we are going to @HandmadeBurger #gourmetmurderkitchen https://t.co/H5FtpxQcc8 — VeganWiki (@VeganWiki) January 18, 2016
@KirstenHenry these are more appropriate ads....mocking people that care about animals #gourmetmurderkitchen pic.twitter.com/LcNnFOSTtf
— paul warmington (@paulwarmo) January 18, 2016
I see that @gbkburgers have put Clarkson in charge of their ad copy again... #gourmetmurderkitchen https://t.co/CXodDcpCKt — Rob Mesure (@robmesure) January 17, 2016
#gourmetmurderkitchen @gbkburgers Bravo to your marketing dept on an epic fail! Take a defining chapter of our generation and ridicule!!
— Jason Bromley (@Dispeller79) January 17, 2016
@gbkburgers utterly offensive advertising. Offending a huge customer base is a huge mistake #gourmetmurderkitchen pic.twitter.com/7aFHKgADlU — Sam Atkinson (@satkinsonphoto) January 17, 2016
The brand has been largely quiet on Twitter following the initial protest although it did message two complainants, telling them it was looking to target 'carnivores' with its latest campaign.
GBK told The Drum: "Our new adverts have purely light-hearted intentions and were not meant to cause any offense. We've been serving beef as a core part of our menu for the last 15 years and whist we’re carnivores at heart, we have an extensive range of vegetarian options available.
"We value our vegetarian customers and their views, and have therefore made the decision to change some of our ads."