Burger King Apologizes After Catholic Ire Over Holy Week Ad

(RTTNews) - Fast food giant Burger King (BKW) was forced to apologize after receiving backlash in Spain over a Holy Week themed advertising campaign.

The company said in a statement, ""We apologize to all those who have felt offended by our campaign aimed at promoting our vegetable products during Holy Week. Our intention has never been to offend anyone and the immediate withdrawal of the campaign has already been requested." The company issued the apology after social media users targeted the company for a billboard campaign, which promoted its new vegetarian burger using the words of Jesus at the Last Supper.

The ad said, "Take all of you and eat of it. Which doesn't have meat. 100% vegetarian. 100% flavor. Big King Vegetable."

Another ad read, "Flesh of my flesh," but crossed the word "flesh" and wrote vegetable instead.

The ad campaign sparked anger among Catholics on social media in Spain, where over 60% people are Catholic, with some using the hashtag #boycottBurgerKing calling for a boycott and others starting an online campaign to fire top-level company executives.

The petition read, "They mock the Eucharist and the death of Christ in the most sacred time for Christians. They take advantage of Holy Week to launch an offensive campaign against the millions of believers in order to get publicity and money."

In a statement given to the media, Burger King said the intention of the campaign was "never to offend."

The statement said, "At Burger King, we value diversity and inclusion. The intention of this campaign, executed by our partner in Spain, was never to offend. However, we are aware that it did, and as a result the ads were quickly taken down. We apologize for any offense."