Burger King’s Russia has axed a social media promotion offering $50,000 and free Whoppers for life to Russian women who manage to get impregnated by a player during the 2018 World Cup.
The supposedly comic social media campaign, posted initially on the corporate account for Burger King Russia, offered women 3m roubles and a lifetime’s Whopper supply if they were able to prove they had conceived a Russia 2018 player’s child.
The campaign, created to try and improve the nation’s footballing “genes has been axed after a global backlash.
The misogynistic creative featured an image of a pregnant woman with the following copy (as translated by the Moscow Times):
“Burger King, within the framework of social responsibility, has appointed a reward for girls who get pregnant from the stars of world football. Each will receive 3 million rubles [$47,500] and a lifetime supply of Whoppers. For these girls, it will be possible to get the best football genes, and will lay down the success of the Russian national team on several generations ahead. Forward! We believe in you!”
Burger King promises $50,000 and lifetime whopper supply for Russian women able to get pregnant from any football celebrity (to transfer good genes to Russia) pic.twitter.com/su8lyfkt6N
— English Russia (@EnglishRussia1) June 19, 2018
The fast food outlet posted an apology after the promo post was removed on Tuesday.
“We offer apologies for the announcement we made. It was too offensive.”
Comment:
We wish this was scarcely believable, but sadly it is true.
The promotion is the second Russia 2018 to be prematurely axed: it follows on from the withdrawal of Mastercard’s goal-gamified ‘feed-a-child’ meal giveaway fronted by Messi and Neymar (see case study).
The ‘best football genes’ idea has even been used before in World Cup work: back in 2010 a spot by The Leith Agency for drinks brand Irn Bru urged Scots to partner with Brazilians for the same purpose.
Links:
Burger King Russia
https://www.facebook.com/BurgerKingRussia/
