Burger King's 'plant-based' Whopper ads are banned in Britain for being misleading
- Burger King, the second-largest food chain the world, has been notified to ban misleading ads for its "plant-based burger" in Britain.
- The UK's advertising regulator found that the burger chain falsely promoted a vegan-friendly product, which was cooked alongside meat products and contained egg-based mayonnaise.
- Burger King claimed that its small text at the bottom of the ads with mentions of "T&Cs apply" was meant to imply that the product might not be suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
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Burger King introduced and promoted its first plant-based burger, the Rebel Whopper, in January.
These ads have since been banned by the UK's independent advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Ten complainants came forward with allegations that the burger was not suitable for vegetarians, vegans, or those with egg allergies as it was cooked alongside meat products and contained egg-based mayonnaise.
For this reason, the "plant-based burger" in the fast-food chain's ads came across as misleading.
Burger King UK's Twitter account promoted its vegan-friendly burger with images of the product which stated "100% WHOPPER. NO BEEF".
On its Facebook ads, a round logo was seen at the bottom left of the image that said "POWERED BY THE VEGETARIAN BUTCHER", while text in small font at the bottom stated: "*Product is cooked alongside meat products."
Another Facebook post on the Burger King UK account stated "TASTE OF BEING WOKE" beside an image of the Rebel burger. Smaller text below said, "T&C's apply." At the very top, the Burger King logo and the Vegetarian Butcher logo were shown.
Burger King's response
The fast-food chain claimed that the ads explained in small print at the bottom were meant to imply that the Rebel Whopper might not be suitable for vegans or vegetarians as it was cooked alongside other meat products. It added that the information was "clearly communicated" to journalists and on all its social media posts and in subsequent customer dialogue.
ASA's call to ban the Whopper ads
The Advertising Standards Authority considered that consumers would understand the claims as put forth by the ads and, in particular, the claim "plant-based burger" to mean that it would not contain any beef or animal products.
It also considered the presence of the "Vegetarian Butcher" logo, the green color palette and the timing of the product release and its advertisement to coincide with 'Veganuary' which further led to misleading information.
The regulator said that although the patty itself was plant-based, it was cooked on the same grill as meat products and also contained egg-based mayonnaise. With that reasoning, it made clear that the ads must not appear again in their current form.
