Full disclosure here; I'm not a vegetarian and have no intention of ever becoming a vegetarian. Now that doesn't mean I am unfamiliar or unsympathetic with the plight of the average vegetarian, but it does mean that some of you might assume that this piece possesses a bias. You'll find no piss-poor jokes or condescending remarks here though (at least not intentionally), and to be honest I actually agree with Gourmet Burger Kitchen's decision to remove their latest ad campaign from the London Underground.
Gourmet Burner Kitchen recently apologised and made efforts to remove a outdoor campaign that went live on the London Underground over the weekend
In case you're unaware of the story, the restaurant chain recently apologised and made efforts to remove a outdoor campaign that went live on the tube over the weekend (January 16 2016). It featured a range of billboards suggesting that the burgers offered at GBK were so delicious that they could actually 'turn' vegetarians into carnivores. The ads featured a picture of a hamburger with the caption: “Vegetarians, resistance is futile,” and a picture of a GBK receipt alongside the caption: “You’ll always remember when you gave up being a vegetarian.” Another ad showed a picture of a cow, which was captioned: “They eat grass so you don’t have to.”
A vigilante effort to replace the offending ads
The Advertising Standards Authority received more than 150 complaints about the ads in just a few days, and were carefully assessing the complaints to establish if they had grounds for further action before GBK took matters into their own hands, because after a monumental backlash on social media, the brand announced that it was taken aback by the reaction and would remove some of the ads. Whilst the ads themselves were actually a lot more tasteful than they could have been, the implication is pretty far-fetched and more than a little insulting. Imagine, for example, an ad for a men's lifestyle magazine that promised female models so attractive it could turn gay men straight. How well do you think that would go down?
The Advertising Standards Authority received more than 150 complaints about the ads in just a few days
Jasmijn de Boo, Chief Executive of The Vegan Society, said of the brand's decision to remove the ads due to the public's persuasion: “What a wonderful example of the power of the people to change things. They spotted an injustice, and made their voices heard. GBK had no choice but to listen and react. GBK has shown itself to be totally out of touch. These outdated and highly offensive ads were completely misjudged and smacked of both naivety and ignorance. Were they not aware of the growth of the vegan movement?”
In a statement on Facebook, GBK said:
The official apology from GBK
Taken out of context, this might sound a little snooty, but Jasmijn has a point. On the other hand, it could also be argued that the ads were not meant to be taken seriously, and that this is another example of adland being castrated by a society that is PC'ing itself into oblivion. There's a fine line there that requires a large amount of tact (and not an insignificant amount of raw talent) to negotiate without either causing offence or coming across as “Too Safe.” This time around however, I personally feel that GBK's attitude is a little out of touch, especially considering that the ads have dropped during Veganuary, the unofficial push to drop animal products for a month (in a similar vein to “Dry January), which has seen a massive surge in popularity with 22,000 involved this year an almost 2650% increase from its start three years ago. Veganism is also protected as a human right under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, so whether you agree or not, it was well within the legal rights of practicing vegans to complain.
Do you think the brand was well within their rights? Or do you find the campaign to be antiquated and offensive?
Where do you stand? Do you think the brand was well within their rights to take a sly dig at vegan and vegetarian Londoners? Or do you find the campaign to be antiquated and offensive? Either way, we can probably all agree that they realised it was a mistake, if only because it's alienated every vegetarian who would ever have considered eating at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen before this fiasco came to light. OK, that's probably not many, but it's still bad PR, and contrary to popular belief, not all PR is good PR, especially in the restaurant business!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He's also an animal lover, so would genuinely consider turning veggie if he had the will power. He doesn't.
Julian January 21st, 2016, in the evening
Interesting reading. Personally, I would suggest they knew exactly what they were doing and they got the additional media coverage they were after.