Burger King Ad Draws Fire For Complaints Of ‘Cultural Insensitivity’

Burger King deleted a video depicting two diners trying to eat a Vietnamese inspired sandwich with chopsticks, drawing fire from critics who say the ad displayed cultural insensitivity.

The video clip was posted on the New Zealand Burger King account and showed two caucasian diners awkwardly trying to eat the new Vietnamese Sweet Chilli Tendercrisp burger with gigantic red chopsticks, according to WaPo. The clip was captioned, “Take your taste buds all the way to Ho Chi Minh City.”

Burger King has apologized for the clip and removed it, according to The Washington Post. However, social media users have criticized the video for cultural insensitivity.

One user, New Zealander Maria Mo, said in a now-viral tweet, “So this is the new Burger King ad for a “Vietnamese” burger ok coolcoolcoolcoolcool CHOPSTICKS R HILARIOUS right omg etc,” following up with the tweets, “This is how Asians eeeeeeeat” and “Orientalism is harmless funnnn”

Maria Mo also added tweets detailing how she thought Burger King‘s ad displayed not only cultural insensitivity but also racism, drawing similarities between Burger King‘s ad and the New Zealand shootings.

“I’m so sick of racism,” she wrote, “Of any kind. Of the kind that makes fun of different cultures, to the kind that shoots and murders those peacefully praying in their place of worship. Say no to every single manifestation of it. #GiveNothingToRacism.”

Tech Crunch’s Asia reporter Catherine Shu also tweeted, “LOL chopsticks amirite?????? Who the hell came up with this? There are a lot of Asian people in NZ, though they probably aren’t getting their Vietnamese food from Burger King.”