Z Burger Apologizes For Their New Ad Campaign Featuring Journalist James Foley Right Before He Was Beheaded By ISIS
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Washington, D.C.-based hamburger chain and a marketing company are issuing an apology over a tweet featuring a New Hampshire native who was killed by ISIS.
James Foley was killed in Syria in 2014.
The tweet promoting the restaurant Z-Burger said, “When you say you want a burger and someone says okay lets hit McDonalds.”
Under the tweet was a photo of Foley moments before he was beheaded by ISIS in Syria with the words “you disgrace me” underneath.
The hamburger chain’s owner, Peter Tabibian, is blaming a contracted marketing company, Valor Media.
Look at the fucking tweet! Look at the meme they used!
Holy shit advertisers and PR people are so clueless. Ok maybe you didn’t know who James Foley was, or what happened to him – a journalist and video reporter who was the first American citizen killed by ISIL in 2014. Maybe you’re young and not very well read on the news so you just weren’t aware of it.
Look at the picture! What exactly did you think was happening, or about to happen in this screenshot?
I mean there’s literally an executioner in all black standing behind a man, who is on his knees, in a prisoner’s outfit. This reminds me of the blog I wrote a few weeks ago about dumb people. About how some people are just dumb and instead of being triggered by certain phrases they should get smarter so they’re not so dumb that they’re a drain on society with their dumbness.
I was very happy to see Z Burger issued an immediate apology with a bunch of heartfelt tweets. Then I saw the video featuring an extra-bro version of Logan Paul and it all made a little more sense.
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Maybe I’m judging a book by its cover but that doesn’t strike me as someone who would have an intimate knowledge of the James Foley situation.
He says another employee was in charge of the ad and it was never reviewed.
Valor said the employee who created the tweet had never heard of Foley and thought the image was something from a movie.
He also admitted the ad was never reviewed before it was posted.
“Now, we are putting infrastructures in place to make sure this never, ever happens again,” Valor said.
We always say these mistakes are from some young intern fresh out of college, but the reality is that most of these companies and outlets have very well paid and professional people running these accounts because of how important social media is.
Doesn’t appear to be the case with Z Burger!