Burger King Pull Mary J Blige Advertisement Following Controversy
Thursday, 05 April 2012
Written by Elliott Batte
Burger King has been accused of 'buffoonery' after they featured Mary J Blige in an advert singing about chicken – something which Blige thinks has racial connotations.
Blige signed up to perform for the advertisement, which she had initially thought would be 'fun and creative', but was left upset after witnessing the final version of the clip – which ended up being pulled yesterday. The advert caused controversy with groups like the Press Association and especially Madame Noire, an online lifestyle guide for black women, who described Burger Kings actions as 'Buffoonery'.
Speaking to TMZ, Blige said of the incident: “I agreed to be part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that's not what was happening in that clap. I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. But if you're a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw go out.”
Burger King themselves have since released a statement, which read: “Burger King is very proud to have Mary J Blige, Jay Leno, Steven Tyler, David Beckham, Salma Hayek and Sofia Vergara as part of its A-list celebrity line-up promoting the launch of the new BK menu items. Unfortunately, the Mary J Blige commercial was released prematurely before all of the licensing and final approvals were obtained. We would like to apologise to Mary J and all of her fans for airing an ad that was not final. We hope to have the final ad on the air soon.”
You can check out the pulled advertisement below.
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