by Cathleene Filmore

Created on: October 07, 2010

When assessing Burger King as a company it is hard to ignore their unethical advertizing practices as well as the numerous complaints that exist on the web; including an employee bathing himself in a Burger King sink on Face book as they ran an advertising campaign asking users to choose which friends to block from their Face book account to receive a coupon for a free Whopper. The recent Face book campaign comes amidst other irresponsible advertising campaigns some staring a sleazy King and a crew of scantily clad booty swinging girls. 

Burger King is currently held by Texas Pacific Group and was founded in 1954 by James McLamore and David Edgerton.  By 1959 Burger King had already become a hit and the company began to offer franchise opportunities.  Burger King was bought by Pillsbury in 1967 and changed hands a couple more times to present.  You are still welcome to apply for a Burger King franchise providing you have the net worth to back up your application some $3 million including an upfront fee of $50,000 and no problem watching Burger King’s unethical ad campaigns.  The fact the Burger King is a franchise versus a chain of corporate restaurants explains why price and quality vary widely depending on the location you may choose.

Although Burger King does offer some healthy alternatives and grilled burgers rather than fried, they are hardly a healthy alternative.  Neither will customers find Burger King quick to back up their famous slogan, “have it your way” as there are rampant complaints and even blog sites dedicated to complaining that there is no way to complain to King when the service is that bad.  Complaints such as cold burgers, stale fries and missing orders are no surprise when there are videos of Burger King Employees bathing in establishment sinks circulating YouTube.

Burger King does not seem to have a reasonable complaint process on their website, nor do they appear to care about customer complaints although scads of serious complaints do exist.  These complaints are rampant on the web and they involve everything from stale burgers to sexual harassment.  In fact if you click on the link to Ethics on the Burger King Corporate Site you will find it is a dead link.

Burger King is clearly unconcerned about socially responsible behavior.  The question of what is social responsibility remains much like the question of whose perspective is correct.  When assessing social

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