It seems that Burger King decided that Carl’s Jr had a good thing going using (Padma) Lakshmi to advertise hamburgers, so they ran an ad in Spain using Padma Lakshmi to advertise … Ham Burgers with the tag line “The Snack is Sacred.”
I don’t know about you, but even as a non-Hindu I found this pretty offensive. Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and learning, and they’re using her image in an ignorant way to promote a pretty cheap foodstuff. I mean, if you’re going to be offensive and use a Hindu Goddess to sell a meat product, why not go all the way and get your forbidden foodstuffs right? Hindus are most offended by beef and Muslims are most offended by pork. It’s like they couldn’t even be bothered to tell their non-Christian religions apart, even though Spain was ruled by Muslims for hundreds of years.
Of course, when news got out, a holy ruckus was raised, and BK issued a rare apology:
“We are apologising because it wasn’t our intent to offend anyone,” said spokeswoman Denise T Wilson. “Burger King Corporation values and respects all of its guests as well as the communities we serve. This in-store advertisement was running to support only local promotion for three restaurants in Spain and was not intended to offend anyone. “Out of respect for the Hindu community, the limited-time advertisement has been removed from the restaurants,” she added. [link]
At BK, we offend you our way.
What’s the big deal about using goddess lakshmi’s picture? Why do people get so testy with mention of religion when all the artist has done is fair use?
I would also like to see “fair use” of Jesus on a cross, or the virgin Mary, or imaginary pictures of Allah used in ad campaigns (until them it kinds looks like an inconsistent application of the “fair use” doctrine)
The image is offensive on two counts. First, using a Hindu icon to advertise beef, which is forbidden to Hindus, is sacrilegious. Second, in a broader sense, it is offensive in general to use religious icons in the pursuit of commerce. Is it ok for images of Jesus to be used to sell fast food or other commercial products? I would hope the same standards apply regardless of the religion. This is not an issue of fair use of imagery in an artistic sense, but in respecting the religious sensibilities of a large portion of the world’s population. Also, this was not art, it was commerce.
i am an agnostic sikh, and my mother is a practicing hindu, i asked my mom if she was offended by the ad, and she responded – “if laskhmi doesn’t like the ad, she will handle it herself, i am not bothered”.
Well, good for you!
If you are too dumb to figure it out on your own, follow the excellent advice from Ad Age:
And here’s BK showing respect to women.
Yeah, I agree, I’m not so concerned about a religion that has survived for millenia that an unfunny ad would cause it to implode, (see Prem Panicker’s post on this), but I do agree that it’s bad advertising.
These scandals thrive on Internet chatter. Let’s just allow this issue to die an early death.
Sony pulls controversial Playstation ad which irked Catholics
issues that always seem to crop up
1) different members of a religion disagree on what is, or isn’t, offensive. so you’ll never satisfy everyone, but just minimize the offense based on numerical distributions (e.g., many muslims might go ballistic at depictions of muhammad, but a minority, specially shia, have such depictions as part of their religious tradition).
2) many of us (like me) think that religion is based on made-up stuff and would prefer that people looked at it as a hobby like knitting. but that’s not realistic, and not how most people view religion, so as an operational matter preferring that people chill is fantasy. people won’t chill, so it’s about management & manipulation of feelings.
3) the aversion to offense isn’t due to abstract principles, it’s pragmatic. you can dismiss beliefs if there are no adherents of a religion in the local area who would care. that’s the difference between religion and mythology. myths are just religious beliefs which you can dismiss because everyone around you also dismisses them (e.g., in my high school when my teachers would talk about greek myths they assumed we all thought they were made up, which we did, but there are real greek hellenist neo-pagans in greece now, so if they ever got numerous….).
4) how seriously you take a religion or someone’s perception of the sacred isn’t just conditioned on belief, but familiarity. many westerners who aren’t believers have a hard time taking hinduism seriously because it seems “weird” to them. even if they didn’t believe that jesus was the savior, or that he didn’t exist, they’re habituated toward people believing that he was, and not thinking that transubstantiation is bizarre. two specific cases that made me aware of this:
a) a dutch atheist friend insisted to me strenuously that catholicism is more primitive and superstitious than calvinism (he’s from a very calvinist region of the netherlands). though he doesn’t believe in religion he expressed basically calvinist critiques of why catholicism was superstition. after a long discussion about this bias he did admit that his background might have affected his judgement.
b) an ex-catholic atheist friend mentioned to me how mormon conceptions of god (a non-omnipotent material being on the planet kolob) were so bizarre. i pushed him on this because mormons sometimes specifically make a show of rejecting abstruse greek philosophical concepts at the heart of trinitarian christianity and substituting in its place a “common sense” conception of theism. after a long discussion my friend admitted that mormonism was weird in part to him because it didn’t make recourse to the obscure creeds and formulas of greek christian theology, which he’d been habituated toward as part of “normal” christianity.
finally, as societies become more religiously plural one wonders how many sensitivity triggers one might have to avoid. since i personally believe all religion is made up, but that most people in a society have a natural inclination to believe in religion, i think societies might operate best with a dominant religion so that you only have to monitor one set of sacred sensibilities. i know that in parts of india both muslims and hindus avoid consumption of both beef & pork out of respect for each other. this principle can be extended indefinitely, so realistically societies will draw limits on which norms they respect based on the numbers and influence of a religious sect. in the united states at least “dharmic” religions inhabit a gray land between greek myths and the abrahamic religions in terms of the respect they’re accrued. with numbers that will probably change.
I’m somewhat befuddled. I really can’t see a connection between donuts and hamburgers and Lakshmi. So it is offensive in that sense.
These ads are not as contextless as they seem. The thinking is that anything Indian will lend a touch of exoticism to something. I’m currently in France and on a trip into town yesterday, at the pasta place I noticed a chicken salad called “Shiva” (the connection might be with chicken tikka masala pasta–they had that on the menu too a while ago). There was a maid-service agency called “Shiva”. And at the cafe, the TV was on and the Schweppes ad came on, with Udaipur as the backdrop. I think they do these things to transport a person into a fancy world away from the humdrum. In France, they’ve had a long fascination with the American west, with cowboys and Indians. At the pasta place, there was also a Fajita pasta being promoted by a cowboy!
Ennis, I love the header.
like razib says, it does get tiresome watching the faithful constantly get their panties in a twist over various offenses lodged at their various spaghetti monsters–except perhaps when the monster is a standin for an ethnicity under fire, as in antisemitism or islamophobia, though that itself gets even more tiresome when its the followers of the monster itself doing most of the firing (but i digress)–but sadly the tactic almost always works since the fiduciary responsibility of the company directors demands they must avoid offending customers, no matter how easily offended these SM worshippers are. after all, our god ($), actually exists and needs real protection.
but that’s why i laughed my ass off when cypress semi’s ceo tj rodgers decided to throw out the playbook by going apeshit on a nun.
This has nothing to do with the religion. This has everything to do with its followers. Or at least, people who are perceived to be followers.
Good luck trying to convince them that you’re not one of “the faithful.”
Before we get all religioned up, let’s take a look at BK’s MO. Most fast food ads are aimed at youth market. For this audience, BK’s troublemaker image may not be such a bad thing. Pissing off religious people and feminists is always good for that hard-to-generate buzz. Ads for preschoolers based on Baby got back? How edgy! The ads that made fun of Mexicans were created by Crispin Porter, one of the hottest agencies in the world. They did not get there by being stupid. Strategically manufactured controversy in different parts of the world. It is what they dickishly call “pushing the envelope” in the reptilian world of marketing execs.
And yet, is the benefit worth the cost? How much do they gain in Spain from such an ad compared to what they might lose in India if there’s a boycott of Pizza Hut and KFC? This was poorly considered.
As for the rest, the ad is simply tacky, which is why I wrote a tongue in cheek writeup of it.
Nobody knew anything about this ad because it was an in-store local promotion in 3 restaurants in Spain. Some desi there saw it (I am betting he works for the marketing dept:) and informed HAF (Hindu American Foundation), which wrote to Burger King, which then promptly withdrew the ad with an apology, after much free coverage all over the world. Burger King and others use these kind of low budget shock ads, which then garner much free publicity. What could be more cost effective in such recessionary times? Here is another such ad by Burger King in Singapore that raised some more free publicity. And check this out for another Burger King outrage manufactured in Mexico. See a pattern? But yes, they would rarely take such liberties with the more vigorous protesters like Muslims for Islamic images or with Christian images, since they know where to draw th line,being insiders to the culture.
Razib @11 said:
Very true, that’s why I was surprised that Goddess Lakshmi was even considered as ‘sacred’ as given in the BK ad. Most westerners would consider her image a mumbo jumbo queen. Also, I agree that familiarity breeds respect, and hinduism is considered totally weird here. In fact, many of the inherent mystical hindu practises (such as meditation, living in the moment, karma, nirvana etc) are attributed only to Buddhism whereas what is attributed to hinduism = thousand gods.
That reminds me, has anyone read Eckhart Tolle’s popular book: “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”. To me it seemed like it was book full of plagiarism from Bhagawad Gita, but it irked me that he doesn’t acknowledge that and only attributes some lines to Buddhism and mystical Christianity. Did anyone else read it and feel the same?
Well, BK is being talked around the world. When things get too hot, they can always offer an apology (or in India, grease some palms) and move on to other targets. This particular case may be poorly considered, but so many attempts at controversy hardly seem accidental.
Hinduism consists of a bunch of related religions and ways of life. Many of these religions have not survived. (An example of a Non-religious philosophy / way of life in Hinduism would be the materialistic Charuvaka Philosophy — a philosophy where there is no heaven/ no hell / no karma, etc.)
Traditions, ways of life, religions need community support and protection to survive. Hinduism is not an exception. Obviously Hinduism can survive a negative ad in a Catholic country. But the bigger point remains that traditions/ ways of life/ religions need community support and protection to survive. Hinduism is not an exception. Prem Panicker as usual is full of BS.
Before debating on whether it is offensive or not, the first thing to do would be to talk to the person who created (and who approved) this advertisement as to what exactly he/she had in mind when creating that piece of ad/marketing campaign. Rest are just extrapolations.
good point about BK’s recent modus operandi. they’ve been doing a lot of bizarre marketing recently.
Agreed this has little to do with religion. But it has everything to do with group politics. One side of me wants to laugh at the foolishness of taking offense at this but I can’t do it with a clear conscience knowing objections from Catholics or Muslims over depictions of their prophets/icons, objections from Jews over making light of or casting doubts on the holocaust, objections from feminists/leftists over disrespect to women etc. deter similar ‘disrespect’ to their “holy” images.
“finally, as societies become more religiously plural one wonders how many sensitivity triggers one might have to avoid”
Sensitivities arise not just from religion but potentially an infinite number of sources. You will never be able to put an upper limit on it. The only difference between a sensitivity that gets taken seriously and one that doesn’t is the number of people willing to back it up.
Though the issue borders on character assassination, negative campaigning/mudslinging, I think religion/gods (unlike humans) cannot be victims of such tactics and so there is nothing to be offensive about this ad –
Sensitivities arise not just from religion but potentially an infinite number of sources. You will never be able to put an upper limit on it. The only difference between a sensitivity that gets taken seriously and one that doesn’t is the number of people willing to back it up.
not all sensitivities are created alike. it is just a reality that when it comes to religious sensitivities people are really, really, fixated and touchy, and the bar is set very low. people have killed over these issues, will kill over these issues, and are killing over these issues. i’m describing what i’m seeing, not what i’d like to see. it all seems bizarre to me, but most of the people in the world live in a reality where gods are people too. the most awesome and important people apparently.
btw, i thought i would recount an amusing story from my childhood. my family is muslim and they would in muslim only gatherings mock hindus for their “peculiar” beliefs. so for example they would talk about how there were some guys working on a construction project and one of them was taking a break by sitting on a rock. the local villagers started attacking him. the reason was that the rock was a holy rock. the punchline is of course that hindus believe rocks can be holy!
now, as an unbeliever i had to wonder, what about the kaba? that’s a holy rock, right? i didn’t bring it up, and i’m sure any analogy would have been met with a lot of hostility. but there you go. “we” have religious beliefs, other people have “superstitions.”
the same applies to “secular” objects. try burning a flag in many countries. you go to washington D.C. and you see “founding” documents in glass cases behind barriers. what are these documents? parchment. ink. put together in particular symbolic combinations which have been reproduced tens of millions of times.
religious impulses are just specific manifestations of general human impulses. you can’t define them away, you have to accommodate them.
I am not a Hindu….but are they thick? A Hindu God Promoting Beef??? I know Americans are dumb ( or is this Spain?), but this is verging on racism..
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I think it is the Spanish arm of a US ad agency. Europe is behind the most unenlightened red states in the US when it comes to racial sensitivity. The SM readers who disagree with me on this point are people who have never lived/worked in Europe outside of their junior year abroad in college
And your comment is verging on the inane. For the last time, this was about a HAM sandwich. HAM is not the same as BEEF.
Ennis even made a rather humorous point regarding how they got their offensive meats mixed up; was it that difficult to absorb? Apparently it was, since the first sentence of the post answers one of your questions, by stating that this occurred in SPAIN. And you comically ask if “they” are “thick”. Don’t let facts get in the way of knee-jerk reactions which some of us find offensive (Americans are all dumb? Really? After your slap-dash comment which conflated and confused everything, what would that make you?)
frankly this is one those idiotic “oh i am so OFFENDED!” lakshmi is the granter of all good things in life – wealth, happiness. chidren, a good sex life. if she created all life and is life itsef, and she did you damn well believe it, why would she be partial to beef? and hindus who believe “i am the eater, and i am the eaten” should not be so damn sensitive.
I did. I haven’t read this book, but in his earlier books, he borrows liberally from the Gita but attributes everything to Buddhism and such. He only mentions the Gita in passing.
This is a common phenomenon. Considering that the big three religions are all based on an anti-pagan, anti-idol, anti-myth foundation it is problematic to acknowledge something as blatantly pagan as hinduism. Even if authors are sympathetic to hinduism, they take care to not offend their readers and keep a respectable distance from hinduism. Buddhism is safe from this perspective.
I havent read Tolle, but I found this statement hilarious given that the Gita itself “plagiarized” from Buddhism in order to blunt its competitive edge, or should I say assimilation?
Ummm…. congratulations?
@ Razib
I understand you’re a Kafir (unbeliever) now, but I thought you were raised by a Muslim family.
Didn’t they or anyone else teach you that the Kaaba is not a rock?
It’s a building. A masjid (well, you would say “mosque” now, right?). It has a ceiling. And a roof. And walls. And a floor.
It’s not a rock.
I also thought you were a scientist. A little bit of research would have cleared all that up.
Therefore, the Kaaba is not a holy rock at all. It’s a holy building.
So I guess you were wrong about that one. Wonder what else….
What’s worse than this ad is getting caught by your family for looking at porn and going to a strip club (with mates). I hope the shady porn sites I visited today, is not linked up to adult web chats that may appear on my families bill =/.
I’m Hindu an don’t finf this offensive, just disturbing. Burger King is a fast food joint and Spain is backwards economically/socially.
Spainards (other southern Europeans as well) are quite ignorant and culturally insensitive. When i lived in Spain, they wuld ask me abt belly dancing, genies, camel riding; some asked if I’m a refugee from a war torn country (because im brown?). im refering to a majority of Spainards, esp. the football hooligans who make monkey chants at African players.
The Spainards that attend international/top schools or hve global exposure are far and few between.
Lol, so many slutty 20 yr old white american college girls flock to Spain to have sex/marry/relationship with the Enrique Iglesias/latin lover type. Spain/Burger King in Spain will never offend the white american girl market — Amerian dollars help boost the shitty Spain economy.
Anyone who makes this into a Hindu vs Muslim, Muslim vs Sikh, Kafir vs Muslim, thing is an idiot.
Dunno where this idea comes from and sounds kind of stupid. Europe is a big place with a lot of variations; would find it difficult to think that this ad would be made in a place like the UK for example.
The ad itself strikes me as lazy and kind of disrespectful really; I think the points people make about Hinduism lacking the familiarity that the other semitic religions have is very accurate. Perhaps unsurprising that this happened in Spain, which doesn’t have much by way of connection to India or a large NRI community.
Thank goodness I’m an Indian-American in the US and no longer livng in the shithole that is Europe.
Wrong. There’s a large Sindhi community, some Sikhs and illegal poor laborers (from all over South Asia) in Spain.
I find the rest of the world is dumb or dumber. I’ve traveled a fair amount and see the same level of ignorance in Europe, Africa and Asia (i.e China, SE Asia etc… but not India). In Europe, for instance, one person even called me wiki in irritation. And there are lots of people who don’t talk to me because I know more about their culture than they do. In the US, in contrast, no one called me “wiki”. And there was a milieu I could move around in where people knew far more than me.
No one has a corner on dumbness. It’s all over.
Then there is the the Hindu desi who sued and won against McDonalds because their fries were cooked in beef flavored oil. If the devout Hindu was so offended by the menu, what was he or anyone else expressing similar sentiments doing in a McDonalds in the first place? So there’s Lakshmi on the Burger on one hand and, on the other, the Hindu suing the burger joint and not one Hindu (or Jew or Sikh) called out the stupidity.
Not only of Tolle, but you are ignorant about most of everything.
Interesting that we should bring up this up,
because in the same artcle anothr incident too is reported
Everyone can be prickly, just about different things, some about Lakshmi, and others about Aztlan. Even the ever so “unflappable” English get so steamed up under the collar when you as much talk about Scotch whisky – Bonnie Scotland and all that! Sean Connery has been banished from the pantheon of the popular in England ever since he starred in election ads for the Scottish Nationalist Party. I am sure there is something that Spaniards are thin skinned about, I just have to look around. As for Burger King, it won’t take much to rile them. A few collages of Big Macs stomping out BK dives should be enough to raise their blood pressure.
Funny isn’t it. When you get worked up over Lakshmi, you are being superstitious, but you get worked up over inaccurately drafted maps, or flags and the such like, you are just being patriotic!
And Buddhism “plagiarized” from Jainism.
But nobody ever talks about that, since the media and academia have a (very visible) pro-Buddhist, pro-Sinhala bias.
Yes, just like old testament is plagiarized from new, and bible is plagiarized from Koran in your mind? Dude…any sense of chronology here ? Please let’s not get into this discussion here, but that was ridiculous assertion.
Sr. Gormley was being holy, Rodgers was being sanctimonious.
What’s stupid Conrad is the belief that Brits consider themselves to be part of Europe from a cultural perspective (as opposed to the political entity the EU). Nevermind that the closest the UK will ever come to having a non-white PM was Lord Liverpool 200 years ago who was only 1/4 desi and passed for white. So let me rephrase this for you oh Great Wise One, the Continent is far less accepting of diversity than Alabama. And yes, I mean all corners of the Continent. From monkey chanting sport fans in Lisbon, to National Alliance near wins in France, to Macedonia frameup/murders of Pakistani laborers, Europe is far behind the US.
I have to agree on that one. In my experience, I have found people in even the red states of US to be more accepting and open to at least hearing about new knowledge and history (regarding developing world) than in “progressive” Europe, and are generally very warm people (talking about southern states here). I have found almost all Europeans with what I term as a superiority-complex arising from past colonial history with an underlying ‘obviously-I’m-better-than-your-lot’ mentality. Also, they tend to be ignorant or blind to history of other parts of the world or make intentional efforts to water them down.
Yes. You’re wrong.
This is an excellent thread. Thanks, in particular, razib, for the comment above and to the folks that raised the points. I wonder if anyone with BK connections or connections to their advertising agencies can do a little whistleblowing, anonymously, here 🙂 or if someone like Thomas Frank or some South Asian baffler type has written about the uses of this kind of outrage to drive profits.
Where’s your proof ? Or is it because of the irrefutable proof of “You said so” ?