Burger chain's unusual marketing tactic offered free burgers to fired workers
In one of the most unusual marketing tactics Canadian HR Reporter has seen in a while, Burger King ran a very brief promotion offering free Whoppers to anyone who was fired.
The promotion only ran from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, and to get the free meat fired workers had to go on LinkedIn, publicly confess that they were fired and use the #WhopperSeverance hashtag. It said it planned to hand out 2,500 burgers as part of the promotion.
The tie in? Well, the burgers are flame grilled – so being fired is bad for a worker, but good for a hamburger. In a somewhat less lighter side, the chain also gave away 30-minute career coaching sessions with a career consultant to the first 100 people to apply for the promotion.
Burger King really, really likes to point out the flame-grilled thing. Just read the statement it posted on the website WhopperSeverance.com:
“We know, we know. You really wanted to admit you got fired for a free flame-grilled Whopper sandwich,” it states on the website. “The bad news is Whopper severance has ended. The good news is you can still buy a flame-grilled Whopper.”
