The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2009
Burger King Spain put the Hindu goddess Lakshmi on top of a ham sandwich
Burger King's Spain ad showed the Hindu goddess Lakshmi on a ham sandwich, captioned 'a snack that is sacred.' Hindu groups objected; the ad was pulled.
Burger King · 2009-07
What happened
In July 2009, Burger King ran a print ad locally in Spain to promote a small number of stores, showing the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity, Lakshmi, seated atop a ham sandwich under the caption 'a snack that is sacred.'
Hindu groups objected on two fronts: using a revered deity to sell a fast-food product at all, and specifically pairing her image with ham — meat that many Hindus, for whom cows are sacred and vegetarianism is common, found doubly inappropriate given Lakshmi's association with purity.
Within hours of the controversy reaching international media, Burger King announced it would pull the ad from circulation, acknowledging the offense caused to Hindu customers.
Why it happened
- A hyper-local ad — meant for a handful of Spanish stores — still had to answer to a global religious community once photographed and shared, a gap between the ad's intended reach and its actual reach.
- Pairing a deity revered by vegetarians with a meat product compounded the offense on top of commercializing a sacred figure at all — either choice alone would have drawn complaints.
- The speed of the pullback — hours after global coverage — suggests the ad was approved by people who never modeled how the image would read outside its narrow local context.
The lesson
Burger King Spain put the Hindu goddess Lakshmi on a ham sandwich for a hyper-local ad. It went global within hours, and so did the apology.
Aftermath
Burger King withdrew the ad; commentators later noted the episode fit a recurring pattern of the brand running religiously or culturally provocative local ads that then draw international backlash.
Sources
- Burger King Apologizes for Hindu Goddess Ad — CBS News
- Burger King regrets pairing Hindu goddess and hamburger — Foreign Policy
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