An upmarket burger chain will scrap posters from its latest advertising campaign in the UK after an apparent attempt to turn vegetarians over to meat was met with a wave of anger.
Posters pasted up by restaurant group Gourmet Burger Kitchen at London tube stations display messages telling non-meat eaters that “resistance is futile” and “You’ll always remember when you gave up being a vegetarian.”
One advert depicts a cow sitting below the ominous caption: “They eat grass so you don’t have to.”
Gourmet Burger Kitchen has more than 60 outlets across the UK and does serve some veggie options.
But the chain’s supposedly light-hearted campaign has been largely trashed online. In fact, vegetarians aren’t digesting it well at all.
Meanwhile, some Twitter users have taken to using the hashtag #gourmetmurderkitchen to describe the eatery’s actions.
The meaty marketing comes during ‘Veganuary,’ when people commit to plant-based eating and giving up animal products for at least a month.
“The last thing we ever intended to do was offend or alienate vegetarians,” Gourmet Burger Kitchen said in an online statement.
“Our intentions were light-hearted and not meant to cause any offence, but clearly we have, and for that we apologize.”