Fast-food company Burger King has apologized for a tweet on International Women's Day.
The company said the intention of its post might have been misunderstood and it apologized to everyone who was offended.
Burger King posted Tuesday: "Women belong in the kitchen." It said it was intended to promote its scholarship program for women employees to pursue culinary courses.
The posts were intended to celebrate International Women's Day and announce its newly launched H.E.R. - or Helping Equalize Restaurants - scholarship. The original post was followed up by a series of posts announcing the scholarship.
The company - part of the Canadian-American multinational fast food holding company Restaurant Brands International Inc. - said it was trying to draw attention to data that showed a small percentage of professional chefs worldwide were women. The post resulted in a flood of negative reactions on social media. The company was accused of "misogynistic baiting."
Restaurant Brands' shares fell 1.45% Tuesday and were expected to open unchanged Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. It also owns the Tim Hortons and Popeyes restaurant chains.
"We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we're sorry. Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. We will do better next time," Burger King said in a tweet posted Wednesday.
Burger King said that it had been forced to take down its original tweet owing to the flood of "abusive comments" on the thread. Shortly after the first tweet Burger King attempted to stand by its statement and explained its reasoning.
But the company was accused repeatedly of using "sexist language." The company subsequently acknowledged the words it had chosen were a "mistake."
"It was our mistake to not include the full explanation in our initial tweet and have adjusted our activity moving forward because we're sure that when people read the entirety of our commitment, they will share our belief in this important opportunity," Burger King said in a separate statement.
