Goddess Lakshmi on meat sandwich: Burger King apologises

Ashadh Krushna Dvitiya

O hindus pray gratitude to god for this success!

Goddess Lakshmi on meat sandwich: Burger King apologises (9 Jul 09)
Protest: Burger King denigrates Goddess Lakshmi (8 Jul 09)

Spain: Burger King, which runs a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants in more than 70 countries, has apologised for running an advertisement in Spain that offended the Hindus.

‘We are apologising because it wasn’t our intent to offend anyone,’ Denise T Wilson, spokesman of Burger King told PTI in an email when asked about the demand of the Hindu community that the company need to apologise for running an advertisement which its leaders said were offensive to their religion.

‘Burger King Corporation (BKC) values and respects all of its guests as well as the communities we serve. This in-store advertisement was running to support only local promotion for three restaurants in Spain and was not intended to offend anyone,’ Wilson said.

‘Out of respect for the Hindu community, the limited-time advertisement has been removed from the restaurants,” Wilson said a day after the Hindu American Foundation in a statement asked Burger King to remove the offensive advertisement.

The Foundation, in a statement on Wednesday, said Burger King is running a print advertisement in Spain that depicts an image of the Hindu Goddess, Lakshmi, seated atop a meat sandwich, other foodstuffs with a catch phrase, ‘A snack that’s sacred’, written in Spanish.

‘An advertisement knowingly and intentionally using sacred symbols, especially those of another religious tradition, for purely commercial purposes can be offensive,’ said Suhag Shukla, managing director and legal counsel for the Foundation.

Even though the Hindu American Foundation has not received any information in this regard form Burger King, Shukla told PTI: “This is welcome news.”

HAF in its letter to Burger King did allude to the company’s positive track record of quickly removing and apologising for previous offensive ad campaigns, she noted.

“Of course we would hope that such misjudgment did not occur in the first place, but we are indeed pleased to hear of Burger King’s move,” Shukla said.

Source: Rediffnews.com

Protest: Burger King denigrates Goddess Lakshmi

Ashadh Krushna Dvitiya

8 July 2009

A US based company of fast food, ‘Burger King’ is featuring Goddess Lakshmi in its advertisement. All Hindus worldwide should force ‘Burger King’ to remove Goddess Lakshmi from advertisement & it should give public apology to Billions of Hindus worldwide.

Denigration of Goddess Lakshmi by ‘Burger King’

Contact Details for protest:

USA

Corporate office: Burger King Corporation, 5505 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami, Florida 33126

Phone Numbers:
Corporate Headquarters: 305-378-3000
Marketing/Advertising Information Requests: 305-378-7200
Consumer Relations: 305-378-3535
HAVE IT YOUR WAY® Cards Consumer Help Desk: 1-800-522-1278
Consumer Relations department: 305-378-3535.

Detail news about Denigration

A US-based Hindu advocacy group has asked American fast food chain Burger King to immediately remove an advertisement campaign featuring goddess Lakshmi, which it says is “offensive” to the people of the faith.

Washington-based Hindu American Foundation said Burger King is running a print advertisement in Spain that depicts an image of the goddess seated atop a meat sandwich and other foodstuffs with the catch phrase, “A snack that’s sacred,” in Spanish.

In the letter written to the company, the HAF has also sought an apology from it for demonstrating lack of cultural and religious sensitivity in this case.

“An advertisement knowingly and intentionally using sacred symbols, especially those of another religious tradition for purely commercial purposes can be offensive in and of itself,” said Suhag Shukla, managing director and legal counsel for the Foundation.

“Compounding this insult is the use of the sacred image for the sale of a meat product -Burger King’s judgement in associating a burger with a Hindu goddess is absolutely baffling,” Shukla said in a statement.

There was no immediate response from the media office of Burger King, when contacted by PTI.

Shukla told PTI, the Foundation had written a letter to corporate headquarters of Burger King last Tuesday. “There has been no response from them,” he said. The HAF was informed about the advertisement by one of its members in Spain.

“I was horrified to walk by a Burger King store in my neighbourhood to discover an image of the same deity that I worship at my home altar, displayed so disrespectfully promoting a meat sandwich,” said Monica Pahilwani, a Spanish.

“A multinational corporation with a global presence should be much more aware of religious and cultural sensitivities, and how truly repelling such an advertisement could be to Hindus,” she said.

Spanish Hindus demanding physical removal of all of the ads in Fuengirola, Spain have already met some success locally, HAF said.

The geographic reach of the advertisement campaign was unknown, and it is unclear if similar ads are running in other countries as well, it said.

“Burger King, in its efforts to drum up sales, seems to be have taken out of its marketing equation respect of ethno-religious sensitivities,” Shukla said.

“We are determined to follow this issue to ensure that Burger King stays true to its stated commitment to diversity and inclusion as it reaches out to its global consumers,” he said.

Source: Business Standard