Burger King ad prompts apology after 'Pride Whopper' campaign featuring burgers with 'top' and 'bottom' buns sparks backlash

• Burger King Austria's ad agency apologized for its much-criticized Pride Whopper campaign. 
• The ad features burgers with "matching buns," including one with two tops and one with two bottoms. 
• "Unfortunately, we still messed up and didn't check well enough with community members on different interpretations of the Pride Whopper," the agency said.

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Burger King Austria is trying to work its way out of a whopper of a PR gaffe.

The fast-food chain's advertising agency issued an apology on Sunday for a much-ridiculed, tone-deaf marketing campaign announcing the "Pride Whopper," a burger served with "two matching buns."

The ad, which was first featured on Burger King Austria's Instagram page on June 1, includes a burger with two bun tops and another with two bottoms, a seemingly misinformed nod to sex within the LGBTQ+ community. 

A post shared by BURGER KING® Österreich (@burgerkingaustria)

Jung von Matt Donau, the German agency that worked on the campaign for Burger King Austria, wrote in a LinkedIn post that it "didn't check well enough with community members on different interpretations of the Pride Whopper." 

"The intended message of the Pride Whopper was to spread equal love and equal rights," the post reads." Our strongest concern is if we offended members of the LGBTQ Community with this campaign. If this is the case, we truly apologize."

The post continues: "We've learned our lessons and will include experts on communicating with the LGBTQ community for future work as promoting equal love and equal rights will still be a priority for us."

Within days of the ad going live, people around the globe took to social media to comment on the campaign, citing the chain's failure to understand "how gay sex works" as well as critiquing corporate "rainbow-washing" during Pride Month. 

—matt (@mattxiv) June 4, 2022

—Nicole Arbour (@NicoleArbour) June 9, 2022

Burger King isn't the only food company under fire for its Pride Month marketing. Postmates also drew scorn last week when it introduced its "Bottom-Friendly Menu," featuring menu items suggested for taking the bottom position during gay sex. 

And in 2019, the UK supermarket chain Marks & Spencer received backlash for its "LGBT Sandwich" — a lettuce, guacamole, bacon, and tomato sandwich in rainbow packaging, launched during Pride Month to raise money for charity. 

Burger King did not immediately respond to Insider's request to comment.