Burger chain Grill’d has pulled its ‘Super Buns To Brag About’ campaign from stores and website following backlash from female employees who claimed the ad sexualised women’s bodies and put staff at risk of receiving unwanted comments.
The image in question showed a burger resting on the lower back of a woman in activewear, alongside the text “Super Buns to Brag About”.
It appeared as an A-frame placard in restaurants and as an internal poster. It was also part of a broader campaign for the chain’s SuperBuns product range.
A parallel version of the ad, featuring a burger balanced on a man’s bicep with the same tagline, has not been removed.
Last Friday, Grill’d management issued an internal memo to restaurants nationally, instructing staff to remove the female-focused creative while keeping the male version in place, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.
On Tuesday afternoon, a Grill’d spokesperson told the SMH the intention behind the campaign was to “bring some light-hearted fun and creativity” with a focus on “strength and vibrancy”. But, the spokesperson said, the company took feedback seriously.
“With a small number of team members raising concerns about one specific image used in the campaign marketing materials, we’ve made the decision to remove it,” the spokesperson said.
“The performance and nutritional benefits are genuine, and we wanted to communicate with them in a way that’s engaging and memorable, rather than clinical.”
The company’s initial response was to defend the campaign, saying only a small number of people had raised concerns and that the work could be interpreted differently by different people.
In a statemen, Grill’d defended the campaign’s intent while acknowledging the concerns raised.
“The intention behind the SuperBuns campaign was to bring some light-hearted fun and creativity to a product category that’s often bland and functional. It features both male and female athletes, with a focus on strength and vibrancy, qualities that reflect the benefits of the product. The performance and nutritional benefits are genuine, and we wanted to communicate them in a way that’s engaging and memorable, rather than clinical.
With that said, we take the feedback of our team seriously, and with a very small percentage of our team raising concern regarding one specific image used in the campaign marketing material, we’ve made the decision to remove it. We will continue the campaign, highlighting the performance benefits of our burgers and High Protein, Low Carb SuperBun.”
Grill’d launched the campaign in mid-June. Within days, Grill’d Workers United, an employee group organised through the United Workers Union, publicly called on the company to pull the image and issue a formal apology. The group’s position was that the ad used women’s bodies as a marketing device rather than communicating anything meaningful about the product.
“The ‘Super Buns To Brag About’ poster board is not edgy, clever or harmless. It is a degrading corporate choice that sexualises women, embarrasses staff and tells female workers that Grill’d is prepared to use women’s bodies as a punchline to sell burgers.”
Grill’d Workers United has since described the removal as a win for staff, though the group says the company still has not issued an apology or provided any explanation for why one version of the ad was pulled while the other remains.
“This is a win for every worker who called this campaign out. It is a win for the young women who were expected to stand by degrading promotional material while serving customers.”
“Grill’d did not act because it suddenly discovered respect for its workers. It is clear why this change happened: Grill’d workers spoke up.”
