Burger King Slammed on Social Media Over Chopsticks Ad

Burger King drew criticism for an allegedly “racist” ad for a chicken sandwich.

The ad, which only aired in New Zealand, features customers failing to eat the sandwich, the Vietnamese Sweet Chili Tendercrisp, with large chopsticks.

“Take your taste buds all the way to Ho Chi Minh City with our Vietnamese Sweet Chili Tendercrisp, part of our Tastes of the World range. Available for a limited time only,” the chain wrote on Instagram for the ad.

“So this is the new Burger King ad for a ‘Vietnamese’ burger ok coolcoolcoolcoolcool CHOPSTICKS R HILARIOUS right omg etc,” wrote Maria Mo on Twitter in an attempt to criticize the company’s ad.

Mo told left-wing news website HuffPost that she believed the ad was “blatantly ignorant.”

“Because I couldn’t believe such blatantly ignorant ads are still happening in 2019, it honestly took me a second to work out what the heck I was looking at,” Mo said.

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 ? https://t.co/XSGYX7IVBR

— Catherine Shu (@CatherineShu) April 5, 2019

Someone make a video of a bunch of Asians using forks to eat sushi or pho with. Make their fork invention look clumsy, primitive and stupid just like how this ad was trying to imply with chopsticks.

— Professor (@supersoakdathoo) April 5, 2019

“Had this not been for an ad for a Vietnamese buger (sic) I would have found this funny … But since this is for an ad for a Vietnamese hambuger (sic) this isnt funny it’s racist,” said another person.

Burger King hasn’t issued a statement after the backlash swelled on social media.

After the backlash went viral, other users chimed in, saying the criticism isn’t warranted.

“Grow the [exletive] up and find something meaningful to do with your lives instead of trying to find new ways of accusing whites of racism that doesn’t exist. We are getting so pissed off,” wrote one user on Twitter.

I think the ad is implying that chopsticks aren’t the most convenient tool for eating burgers. Or at least that’s what I got from it. And also the people in the video are clearly using the chopsticks incorrectly reflecting their ignorance more than it reflects on the chopsticks.

— 9️⃣5️⃣ Sundjata Suma (@JataTheGod) April 6, 2019

I mean, they could. Laugh at yourself for once, it’s healthy.

— Janus (@TemporalDuality) April 7, 2019

You must have a really easy life to complain about something like this.

— Xopher X (@xopher_x) April 6, 2019

The New York Times in 2017 came under fire after it included chopsticks in an article about an Asian-themed steakhouse. The Times later replaced the photo with one that doesn’t have chopsticks.