Even burger joints are trying to make women feel insecure these days
In what was presumably a failed attempt of hipster irony, a burger chain has come under fire for decorating its female bathrooms with a series of misogynistic slogans that played on women’s insecurities.
Almost Famous Burgers, which has branches in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, has taken down the ‘edgy’ design after criticisms surfaced online.
What could motivate someone to do this? And surely more than one person is responsible.
Surely this p##s poor excuse for interior design wasn’t dreamt up and sanctioned by a single person?
A committee of people must have sat around a table and agreed this was a great idea. Apparently there is nothing equivalent in the men’s toilets. Quelle f###ing surprise.
- Helen Graves, writer and food critic
In a statement on its website, the restaurant announced that it has taken down the design, which featured phrases such as "I really need a nose job", "my bum is really flat" and "my boobs are too small".
The designs in our female toilets have caused upset and we are sorry. Almost Famous is a young company, we take risks, but we got this one wrong.
We want to stress our intentions weren't to offend. The designs were created by a female employee to voice her own and other women's insecurities.
We accept we didn't communicate this properly. The designs are currently being removed from all of our restaurants.
- The Almost Famous Team
On a side note, the company also seems to have an interesting history of questionable marketing strategies.
As well as its house cocktail being called ‘Bitch Juice’, here, on its homepage, the restaurant uses a group of cavorting models to try to sexualise raw, minced beef. Which would've been quite the accomplishment had they actually managed to pull it off.
Although somehow we're not quite convinced they did:
Update: The makers of the above video (Maker Projects) have been in touch on Twitter to clarify that the video was "ironic", "made by feminists", and "misconstrued" by us. We're willing to bet we're not the only ones who failed to appreciate the irony, however.More: Playboy's flowchart doesn't make up for years of objectifying women