Source: news4u.co.in
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, July 11, 2009: Burger King, a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants in more than 70 countries, has apologized for running an advertisement in Spain that offended Hindus. “We are apologizing because it wasn’t our intent to offend anyone,” Denise T Wilson, spokesman of Burger King said.
The print advertisement in Spain that depicts an image of the Hindu Goddess, Lakshmi, seated atop a meat sandwich, other foodstuffs with a catch phrase, ‘The snack is sacred’, in Spanish. It can be seen here
“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 (HAF) in a statement asked Burger King to remove the offensive advertisement. According to the website AdFreak.com, specialized in media and advertising, the intervention from HAF had a pivotal role.
HAF in its letter to Burger King did allude to the company’s positive track record of quickly removing and apologizing for previous offensive ad campaigns. “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,” HAF’s representative said.