KFC grills Burger King over IWD fiasco on social media

Following Burger King's controversy over its International Women's Day post, its rival KFC has clapped back with a cheeky reply. KFC Gaming, the company's gaming arm, posted a similar tweet on its Twitter platform that started with "Women belong in gaming". However, unlike Burger King, KFC Gaming continued in the same tweet, thanking all the "writers, actors, producers, CEOs and more who played a part in creating games that are enjoyed every day". 

https://twitter.com/kfcgaming/status/1368982279410876422?s=20

This follows KFC Gaming's reply to Burger King's original tweet that had stated "Women belong in the kitchen", accompanied by an image of Colonel Sanders pointing to the words: "The best time to delete this post was immediately after posting it. The second best time is now." on a canvas. 

https://twitter.com/kfcgaming/status/1368865374096228356?s=20

KFC Gaming's tweet garnered the support of many netizens, who claimed it did a better job than Burger King. As one netizen put it succinctly: "KFC vs Burger King, clear winner here". Meanwhile, another netizen left a sarcastic comment towards Burger King, saying: "Wow this is so nice! Imagine if somebody happened to say a sexist trope as a joke to launch their women’s culinary scholarship! But that would never happen right, @BurgerKingUK?" KFC Gaming's tweet has gained 8,160 likes and 641 retweets at the time of writing.

https://twitter.com/brace_freddoo/status/1368982388366315528?s=20 

https://twitter.com/myoffshoreacco1/status/1368988876635799556?s=20

KFC Gaming, like many netizens, showed disapproval of Burger King's recent marketing stunt. Burger King first tweeted the phrase "Women belong in the kitchen" on Monday, followed by a subsequent tweet stating that only 20% of chefs are women, and Burger King looks to change the gender ratio by empowering its female employers. Burger King has since deleted the tweet and apologised.

It is not uncommon for F&B companies to take jabs at each other online. Last year in February, Nando's took a jab at Burger King as well for its mouldy burger ad that aimed to promote its fresh ingredients. In the ad, Burger King created a time lapse video where it constructs its iconic Whopper and shoots its condition over a 34 day period. The spot read, "the beauty of no artificial preservatives" at the end. In response, Nando's posted on its Facebook page, where placed an empty plate with presumably chicken crumbs next to Burger King's mouldy Whopper. The post was accompanied with the lines: "Some burgers, after 34 days" and "Our peri-peri chicken burger after 3-4 mins".

Separately in November, KFC Singapore launched its campaign titled “Everything’s Better with KFCHEESE”, which places focus on its signature cheese sauce. The campaign kickstarts a 40-second ad showing KFC’s cheese sauce being poured on everything, which included cheeky references to its recent marketing stunt in the ad such as Burger King's Whopper or McDonald's fries. With this, KFC looked to re-enforce the message that KFC Signature Cheese Sauce is so good, it truly goes with everything.

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(Photo courtesy: 123RF)

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