International fast food chain Burger King has pulled an advertisement after it was accused of being culturally insensitive and racist.
The advert being pulled was made for a new Vietnamese burger in New Zealand, and shows westerners trying to eat the burger with oversized red chopsticks, BBC reported. A debate soon erupted on social media.
Maria Mo, a Korean living in New Zealand, posted a snippet of the advertisement on her Twitter page and received more than 2.9 million views. She then berated Burger King for allegedly making fun of the way Asians eat.
In China, the advert raked in more than eight million views on the social media platform Pear Video. Weibo users have been sharing the advert as well. The hashtag #NewBurgerKingAdvertAllegedlyRacist has been used more than 12,000 times.
Opinions were divided, with some condemning Burger King and others defending it. Some showed sympathy by saying that those who were offended were being too sensitive.
Burger King has since deleted the advert from its New Zealand Instagram account and has also pulled it from television. A spokesperson said the advert was insensitive and did not reflect the company’s brand values of inclusion and diversity.
