Burger King’s UK division sparked an outcry on International Women’s Day on Monday by a tweet that read, “Women belong in the kitchen.” The restaurant had tried to take on gender disparity in the restaurants with a new culinary scholarship program with the tweet that, judging by the fierce outcry, did not go well.

Critics branded the tweet as clickbaity and tone-deaf on a day meant to celebrate women. Later the brand deleted the original tweet and tweeted an apology.

We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we’re sorry. Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. We will do better next time.

— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021

The same ad had surfaced in the print edition of The New York Times on Monday with “Women belong in the kitchen” written in bold. However, the messaging was meant to draw attention to the huge lack of female representation in the restaurant industry.

“Our tweet in the UK was designed to draw attention to the fact that only a small percentage of chefs and head chefs are women. It was our mistake to not include the full explanation in our initial tweet and have adjusted our activity moving forward because we’re sure that when people read the entirety of our commitment, they will share our belief in this important opportunity,” Burger King spokeswoman Adrianna Lauricella said in an email to Washington Post.

Only 20 and 24 percent of the professional chefs working in the UK and US kitchens, respectively, are women. America has fewer than 7 percent head chefs. Pointing to the facts, the restaurant aimed to convey the message that from fine-dining kitchens to ghost kitchens, women belong there.

H.E.R (Helping Equalize Restaurants), a Burger King Foundation, will grant a scholarship of $25,000 to two current female employees who plan to enrol in a culinary program in the US during 2022-23. However, they must be employed by Burger King or a franchisee and have a high school diploma or GED, and demonstrate a financial need. The foundation is working to establish similar programs in the UK and Mexico.

This is not the first Burger King advertisement that has sparked an outcry. In 2019, the brand posted a video promoting its Vietnamese Sweet Chilli Tendercrisp burgers by showing customers trying awkwardly to eat them. The video was captioned by “take your taste buds all the way to Ho Chi Minh City.” When the users complained the video was racist, Burger King deleted it and apologized. Researchers show when brands use this strategy of “identity appealing” to target their customers based on a specific identity, it usually backfires.