Disrespect for religious communities or ingenuity in the service of marketing? If there is something we know how to do well in Spain, it is to take offense at almost everything. At Magnet we have told in several articles and for several years how the most insurgent humor has been buried in almost all sectors and media by the same detractors who today punish Burger King’s latest advertising campaign.
The controversy. “Take and eat all of it. It does not have meat”: it is nothing other than the message that reads one of the posters of the advertising campaign of the fast food chain, announcing the Big King Vegetal vegetarian burger. Posters that, of course, have ended up being removed after arousing great controversy on social networks during this weekend in the middle of Holy Week.
Another sign read “Carne de mi carne”, but with the word ‘meat’ crossed out and replaced by ‘vegetable’. The result? The expected. Hours later, the hashtag ‘#BoicotBurgerKing’ was already circulating on Twitter.
Hello @burgerking_es. Due to your offensive campaign against the Eucharist, I advise my more than 46,000 followers never to go to an establishment of yours again. Let’s see if that’s how we learn to respect. #BoycottBurgerKing pic.twitter.com/4Q9PSfi9HN
— P. Juan Manuel Góngora (@patergongora) April 16, 2022
The critics. The Christian community has received this campaign as disrespectful. “Do they have to make fun of everything? Anything goes as long as they sell?” or “An offense like this, against Christianity, cannot be allowed,” several users wrote. “I’m just passing by to tell you that, due to your offensive campaign against Christianity, I advise my 35,000 followers never to go to an establishment of yours again. Let’s see if that’s how we learn to respect”, expected another.
On the other hand, some users applauded the announcement and its ingenuity: “Congratulations to the authors of the campaign, they have managed to be everywhere and almost for free. Very ingenious, really” or “My ten to the marketing director”.
Burger King’s response. On Sunday, the company born in Florida in 1953, spread a message on Twitter apologizing and announcing the withdrawal of the campaign. “We apologize to all those who have been offended by our campaign aimed at promoting our vegetable products at Easter. “Our intention has never been to offend anyone and the immediate withdrawal of the campaign has already been requested,” concludes the tweet from the official account of the hamburger chain,” the message read.
We apologize to all those who have been offended by our campaign aimed at promoting our vegetable products at Easter. Our intention has never been to offend anyone and the immediate withdrawal of the campaign has already been requested.
— Burger King (@burgerking_es) April 17, 2022
“With Muhammad they dare not”. The company has displayed its creativity and black humor when carrying out many advertising campaigns over the years. From the mythical “Meat is weak” to “Real beauty, real taste”. Many users confronted and challenged the king of burgers h make the same joke with Muhammad or Islam. “He is not funny at all. Is there no eggs to laugh at Mohammed?” But the truth is that they just did it in the past.
In the same way, after dinner, he distributed soups with a slingshot. pic.twitter.com/KusxEwrC6x
– Mauro Entrialgo (@Tyrexito) April 16, 2022
Put a nail in the coffin of insurgent humor. In Spain we have lived a long history of similar complaints, some of which have even reached the courts. The one that takes the cake was the sentence of the courts of Jaén against a young man who made a photographic montage in which he put his face on that of a Christ, facts that some jurists analyzed as ways to threaten freedom of expression, since, although in most cases the complaints end up being denied, a climate of discursive hostility towards certain ideas is created.
Not a rebellious cunt. Three feminist activists were tried by the Criminal Court for a ‘performance’ demonstration called ‘The unsubmissive cunt’ that they carried out during the celebration of May 1, 2014, carrying a large latex vagina on a litter, called “Procession of the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Insumiso Pussy”. What was intended to be a “feminist coven” and a festive protest ended up, however, becoming a legal case, following the complaint filed by the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers, which considered it an attack on the symbols of the Catholic religion. .
In the realm of monologists. The same Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers, whose objective is to defend “in the legal field the values inspired by Christianity”, has managed to open proceedings against Willy Toledo for saying “I shit on God and I have plenty of shit to shit on the dogma of the holiness and virginity of the Virgin Mary”. They were also admitted the complaint against the humorist Carlos Santiago, who in a proclamation spoke of “the eggs of the Apostle” and made suggestions about fellatio from the Virgen del Pilar to the saint. They also showed up against Italian comedian Leo Bassi in which the Pope was criticized and the sexual abuses of the Church were denounced.
Together with them, the Francoist association Friends of the Valley of the Fallen it was against the comedian Dani Mateo and the showman Wyoming for saying “Franco wanted that cross to be seen from afar, normal because who is going to want to see that shit up close”, statements for which the lawsuit filed for offending religious sentiment was also admitted. And better known was the action of the Tomás Moro Legal Center when they denounced Javier Krahe and Javier Seseña for the video about “How to Cook a Christ”.