Burger King Bolloxed Over Barefoot Baby Banning Whoppers

Carol Bengle Gilbert
With Burger King promising its customers whoppers, maybe the public shouldn't expect anything different. But one Burger King in St. Louis County, Missouri, is serving up whoppers that won't win it any accolades from the Burger King corporation. In what has become the whopper of negative publicity, Burger King threatened to call the cops when Jennifer Frederich responded to an order to put shoes on her barefoot six month old by slipping socks on the baby. Barefoot baby Kaylin doesn't crawl or walk and doesn't even own a pair of shoes. Nevertheless, the Burger King in St. Louis County insisted that the barefoot baby wasn't welcome under a "no shoes, no shirt, no service" policy.

A Different Kind of Whopper

Claiming to be enforcing a "no shoes, no shirt, no service" policy? Well, that's another kind of whopper. Burger King was perfectly willing to serve Frederich, her mother, her church group, and the barefoot baby in the restaurant; Burger King simply objected to barefoot baby Kaylin and her party eating in the restaurant. In other words, Burger King will take their money, but...

And there's yet another whopper looming in this Burger King barefoot baby ban story. The restaurant manager allegedly told Frederich that allowing the barefoot baby in the Burger King violated the health code. Today, Burger King corporate spokesperson Denise Wilson acknowledged that the barefoot bans are not health code requirements but company policy.

The publicity for Burger King over the banning of a barefoot baby has been overwhelmingly negative. CNN's legal correspondent set forth both sides of the story by noting that there is only one side to this story, Frederich and her banned baby's side.

Bolloxed Burger King corporate officials are backtracking after a day of silence over the banned barefoot baby incident. Fingerpointing at the franchise status of the Burger King, they promised retraining on the no shoes, no shirt, no service policy as well as apologies.

Burger King Family Friendly?

Burger King has been a bastion of bad publicity lately. The latest whopper- barefoot baby banning- follows on the heels of an international advertising campaign that created a furor in June when it made the buzz as the Burger King blow job ad. The ad depicts a woman, lipsticked mouth open, holding a super seven incher submarine sandwich provocatively. The text reads "IT'LL BLOW your mind away."

Sources: http://babybangs.blogspot.com/2009/08/barefoot-baby-banned-from-burger-king.html; http://bumpshack.com/2009/08/06/jennifer-frederich-barefoot-baby-kicked-out-of-burger-king-video/; http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/08/05/pn.babyfeet.banned.cnn; http://theshermanfoundation.blogspot.com/2009/06/burger-king-blow-job-ad.html; http://www.10news.com/news/20304037/detail.html.

Published by Carol Bengle Gilbert - Featured Contributor in Travel and Lifestyle

2010 Yahoo! Outstanding Contributor of the Year, Carol has consistently been designated a Top 100 Yahoo! Contributor Network writer. She received a 2008 People's Media Award for "Best Article." Carol’s pr...  View profile

54 Comments

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  • Lisa Stevens10/21/2009

    Really? The Burger King's in Florida I have been to have the same policy outlined on the door as you come in. It was a rare occasion to take our baby in the restaurant when he was 3 - 8 months old but he didn't own shoes during that time period and they never complained. He just slept in his car seat. I can understand their policy but it's a 6 month old baby who probably isn't doing much outside of the car seat anyway.

  • Kim Keason10/21/2009

    Does the manager have more than 2 brain cells?

  • Mrs.Jones10/20/2009

    i am terribly sorry to inform you that your reply came too late. as i looked through my daughters search history, i came to this page, only to find it too late. In respect for my daughter, i thank you for your attempt to save my daughters life.

  • Carol Bengle Gilbert10/15/2009

    Laura, If you are serious, call 1-800-784-2433 or 1-800-273-8255- they are suicide hotlines available 24 hours a day for free.

  • Malina Debrie8/10/2009

    Seems as though they need more training in addition to a better public relations team.

  • Cody Griffin8/8/2009

    He Should B Fired

  • Linda Ann Nickerson8/8/2009

    That BK manager was a total HEEL.

  • John Lake8/8/2009

    The barefoot babies mother could have stepped outside, or even into the ladies room, wrapped a blanket aroung the baby, so as to remove the childs footers from view, or in the absense of a blanket, another such scheme. Then upon returning she would have been within her rights to deny the BK manager access to her childs feet1

  • Patricia Sheasley Sicilia8/7/2009

    That BK manager was a jerk. (I am controlling myself, not sure what the obscenity rules cover here.) He should be fired. What an ass. There, I said it.

  • Wendy Dawn8/7/2009

    Loved your take on the story. Loved the headlines and subtitles.

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