Burger King recently released an ad on LGBT equality, and one store in San Francisco served a burger called the “Proud Whopper” for a short while during San Francisco’s Pride Weekend celebration.
They added social media to their campaign. For example, they Tweeted, “We are who we are. And it’s awesome. #BeYourWay” with an image that included the words “We are all the same inside” on a rainbow flag.
It’s a pro-LGBT message, it’s a message that resonates and indicates support for the community and with a message like that you’d expect Burger King to have a pro-LGBT record.
“We are always looking to engage our guests on a local level and be part of regionally relevant events,” stated Kelly Gomez, Burger King’s director of West Coast field marketing, in a press release. “With one of our restaurants on the [San Francisco] Pride Parade route, it was a natural fit to be involved and celebrate by giving something back to the community.”
But is it enough to have clever advertising.
“As a transgender person who also works directly with employers to improve their policies and practices of workplace inclusion,” stated Beck Bailey, HRC deputy director of employee engagement, in a recent HRC blog entry. “I experienced mixed emotions with the Burger King ad. Burger King has a score of 55 on the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) – a score that reflects, among other things, a lack of employment protections on the basis of gender identity as well as a lack of base level health care coverage for transgender employees. For comparison, other chains such as Yum! brands (parent of KFC, Taco Bell and others) and McDonald’s have both implemented gender identity protections.”
“While Burger King’s gesture is nice … “added Baily, “workplace equality in the form of policies, practices and benefits should be a fundamental focus of fair-minded businesses and particularly those companies that want to participate in Pride events and our combined LGBT market power.”
Burger King’s campaign is just marketing. It’s not really followed through with full support for the entirety of the LGBT community.
Is it progress for Burger King? Sure it is.
But for the LGBT community, it’s an opportunity to press Burger King to improve their policies for the entirety of LGBT community members in their employ.
In September of 2007, a poll by Witeck- Combs indicated “about two-thirds (66 percent) of all LGBT adults reported that they would be very or somewhat likely to remain loyal to a brand they believed to be very friendly and supportive to the lesbian, gay and transgender community – even when less friendly companies may offer lower prices or be more convenient.”
Burger King can do better, and LGBT community members will no doubt care whether or not they do.
So what can Burger King do?
They can add gender identity to their company’s diversity and antidiscrimination policies; they can add transgender related health care to their health care plan, as the HRC’s Beck Baily suggested. It’s something they can do besides creating a “Proud Burger” to sell for a few days in one Burger King restaurant in San Francisco and posting a rainbow flag on their Twitter feed with a pro-LGBT message. We in the LGBT community deserve more than a pleasant ad campaign that speaks about their policies in half hollow words.
Burger King is under no obligation to do anything. They chose to support Gay Pride, and are continuing to do so, at least in San Francisco, where they still offer the “Proud Whopper.”. I guess Sandeen is trying to sound relevant.