What a whopper
Burger King ended up in a sticky situation following a series of misleading advertisements posted on its social media.
Burger King, like many others, is diversifying its product range to meet the ever-growing demand for meat-free alternatives.
The fast-food chain’s latest offering appears to be aimed at flexitarians rather than vegetarian or vegan consumers.
In “Veganuary”, which takes place during January, Burger King launched its “Rebel Whopper” burger.
A misleading rebel
Following the launch, the Advertisement Standards Authority (ASA) received complaints against BKUK Group Ltd relating to three advertisements on social media promoting their newly launched plant-based “Rebel Whopper” burger.
The regulator considered that the ads were misleading as the overall impression implied that the burger was suitable for vegans and vegetarians when in fact it was not.
Strike one
The first offending advertisement, offending ad (a), was on the Burger King Twitter feed, which stated:
“You asked and we listened. Introducing the Rebel Whopper, our first plant-based burger!...”T&Cs apply”.
Accompanied by a sticker on an image of the product shown below the tweet, which stated:
“100% Whopper. No Beef”
Strike two
The two other ads were posted on the Facebook Burger King UK account.
The first post, offending ad (b), was similar to the tweet, which introduced the launch of the Rebel Whopper, showed a visual of the product with the sticker:
“100% Whopper. No Beef”
With reference to T&C’s and included a logo, which stated:
“Powered by The Vegetarian Butcher".
At the bottom of the image in small text, it stated:
*Product is cooked alongside meat products”.
Strike three
The second Facebook post, offending ad (c), showed an image of the burger and the text:
“Taste of being woke”
Beneath in small font in an even smaller font was the text:
“100% Whopper. No Beef”
followed by:
“T&C’s apply"
The Burger King and The Vegetarian Butcher logos were shown at the top of the post.
Wrong impression
The ads attracted ten complaints as it was understood that the Rebel Whopper burger was not suitable for vegans, vegetarians or those with egg allergies as the plant-based burger was cooked next to meat products and used mayonnaise containing egg.
It was claimed that the ads were misleading in respect of the terms “100% Whopper. No Beef” and “plant-based burger”.
In response to the complaint, Burger King explained that the Rebel Whopper burger was supplied by The Vegetarian Butcher, did not contain beef and was 100% plant-based. Burger King referred to the small print appearing on the ads, which stated that the burger may not be suitable for vegans or vegetarians as it was cooked next to meat products. Interestingly, Burger King admitted to omitting The Vegetarian Butcher logo from TV ads as it was considered this could be potentially misleading.
The advertising regulator considered that the inclusion of The Vegetarian Butcher logo, the green colour palette used for the burger wrapping and the timing of the launch of the product to coincide with “Veganuary” gave the impression that the burger was suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
It was decided that consumers would understand the claims “100% Whopper. No Beef” and “plant-based burger” to literally mean that the burger did not contain beef or animal products.
Whilst it was acknowledged that the patty itself was plant-based, but it did not pass as vegan as it was cooked on the same grill as Burger King’s meat products.
The regulator considered the small print that appeared in ad (b) “cooked alongside meat products” but this was said to be:
“not sufficiently prominent to override the overall impression that the burger was suitable for vegetarians and vegans”.
It was noted that the small print did not refer to the presence of egg mayonnaise and further, that the small print was absent from ads (a) and (c).
The ads were found to have breached CAP Code rules 3.1, which provides that “marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so” and 3.3, which states:
“marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner”.
Whether the omission of information is likely to mislead will depend on the context and is decided on a case-by-case basis. Here, the regulator banned the ads from being used again.
Pushing boundaries
It is not the first time that Burger King’s ads have fallen foul of the advertising codes.
In 2019, there were twenty-four complaints about a tweet on the Burger King Twitter page, which included the text:
“Dear people of Scotland. We're selling milkshakes all weekend. Have fun. Love BK. #justsaying".
The complaints claimed that the ad was irresponsible and encouraged violence and anti-social behaviour.
Burger King’s response was that the tweet was intended to be a tongue in cheek reaction to recent events where milkshakes had been thrown at political figures.
Conclusion
All advertisements in the UK are required to comply with the advertising codes. The central principle is that all marketing communications should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.
Author
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Heather Williams
Daneel Williams LLP