GBK's campaign for spicy burger goes up in flames

Does Gourmet Burger Kitchen's newest campaign highlight the lack of diversity in the PR industry?

In a bid to promote their new burger, GBK released a video showing a representative for the chain taking to the streets wearing a sandwich board reading: "Masala, this is a curry war and it's gong to get spicy". 

Stationed outside curry houses, along Brick Lane, the man can be seen in the video promoting the product to reluctant passers by and stirring up trouble with the business owners, challenging them by saying the Ruby Murray burger is considered authentic Indian cuisine.  

The stunt only appears to irritate the local curry house teams and diners, earning the guy a few choice words throughout the video. 

The stunt didn't just crash and burn on film, it also caught the attention of the public on Twitter who were quick to condemn the campaign as "racist" and "culturally inept". 


Since the backlash GBK posted on Twitter apologising for any offence they caused and announced that they were taking the content down in response. 

GBK isn't the first company to launch a culturally insensitive campaign and they will not be the last, so this begs the question: what can the PR industry do to prevent such disastrous ideas being followed through in the future? 

Other than using better judgement, the very simple answer is greater diversity in the PR industry. CIPR statistics for diversity in the workplace for 2017 show that only 8% of the profession is made up of professionals of a non-white background. If this is improved in the coming years then maybe the number of such inappropriate campaigns will decline. 


Post by Rachel Hickey, PR specialist at BCU School of Media