Burger King grilled for advertising plant-based burger not suitable for vegans
Burger King has been given a grilling by the advertising watchdog over its “misleading” claims about a plant-based burger that is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans.
In January the fast food chain promoted its new “plant-based” Rebel Whopper burger with the tagline “100% Whopper. No Beef.”
Adverts posted to Facebook also branded the new burger the “taste of being woke”, adding that it was “powered by the vegetarian butcher”.
But 10 complainants questioned whether the ads were misleading as the Rebel Whopper was cooked alongside meat products and contained egg-based mayonnaise, meaning it could not be eaten by vegetarians or vegans.
Burger King, which faced a backlash on social media after launching the new burger, said this was explained in small print at the bottom of the ads. The company also said it had excluded the vegetarian butcher logo from TV.
But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today said customers would likely understand the term ‘plant-based’ to mean that the burger did not contain any meat or animal products.
The watchdog also said the use of the vegetarian butcher logo and the timing of the product launch to coincide with Veganuary were likely to mislead.
At the time of the launch Burger King described the new product as a “game changer”, saying it was aimed at encouraging so-called flexitarians to reduce their meat consumption.
But the Vegan Society branded the stunt a “missed opportunity”, while some critics accused Burger King of a cynical attempt to cash in on the rising popularity of meat-free diets.
The ASA said the advert must not appear again in its current form and warned Burger King not to imply that a product was suitable for vegetarians and vegans if it was not.