Marketing News Roundup: March 15, 2021
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Welcome to another weekly roundup across tech, social platform and marketing campaign news! On the tech front, NewNew emerges, aiming to allow influencers to monetize their every move, a look at the top-selling art NFT of all time, and more. For social platforms, Facebook goes after TikTok with new short form video formats and monetization opportunities for creators. On the marketing front, Burger King gets grilled for its International Women’s Day campaign, to which a female-founded U.S. agency has a brilliant response. There’s also a shocking $600 million lawsuit between Dolce & Gabbana has filed against a social media influencer. Sound interesting? Let’s jump in!
Burger King Gets Grilled for ‘Women Belong in the Kitchen’ Tweet Supporting Female Chefs
Women belong in the kitchen. This was the phrase at the center of Burger King’s International Women’s Day campaign which resulted in a proper social media grilling of the fast-food chain. Launched in the New York Times with a print ad, the phrase, “Women belong in the kitchen,” was followed with text announcing the launch of the company’s H.E.R. (Helping Equalize Restaurants) Scholarship. The scholarship offers financial assistance to women who work at Burger King and aspire to an academic degree in culinary arts.
While the print ad gives context to the controversial headline, some of Burger King’s local market Twitter accounts, like @BurgerKingUK, tweeted the headline without context, sparking an uproar online. Although Burger King tried to quickly fan the flames by responding to fans and creating a thread out of the controversial tweet, it wasn’t enough and the tweet was eventually deleted and an apology tweet was posted.
Why this matters: A lot of breaking through in social media has become about being controversial, snarky or sensational. Burger King knew that it was taking a risk by using language saying that “Women belong in the kitchen,” and decided the risk was…
