The Legal Sea Foods chain of restaurants is taking heat after they ran a full-page ad in the Boston Globe referring to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a "cold fish" -- a slur inferring a woman is frigid, reports The Boston Globe.
The New England-based chain has been running mock satirical campaign ads for company CEO Roger Berkowitz -- using the campaign slogan #feeltheberk -- but went over the line with the Clinton ad.
Under a picture of Clinton, the ad reads: "We have a name for cold fish. Sushi."
Twitter users responding to the hashtag campaign were not amused at the slurs aimed at the first woman to receive a major party presidential nomination, and let the company know.
What a miss for Legal. Worn misogynist tropes aren't clever. Neither is alienating your woman customer base. https://t.co/r5JAAQkHtI— Devra First (@Devra First) 1469455833.0
Just tried to call #legalseafoods HQ to register disgust at hateful misogyny in Globe ad today. No one home. #feeltheberk #sexismisnotfunny— Kent Greenfield (@Kent Greenfield) 1469452111.0
former proud employee of @legalseafoods, now disgusted w #sexist ad in @BostonGlobe stick to fish Roger #feeltheberk https://t.co/vJlbLGgkFA— bremcgahey (@bremcgahey) 1469444796.0
Shame on @legalseafoods for the sexist immature ad calling Clinton a cold fish & shame on @BostonGlobe for running it Classless, both of you— Bring ice cream (@Bring ice cream) 1469475999.0
Berkowitz responded to criticism of the ad, saying the company ran an ad mocking GOP nominee Donald Trump last week reading, "“I can assure you, it’s not the size of your hands that are important, but rather the size of your shrimp.”
According to the CEO, “Like with the Trump ad, we said, ‘Let’s see what the perception is of the candidate and see if we can get a fish message in.' The common perception of Hillary is that she’s a little bit cold, not exactly warm and fuzzy. This was a way for us to say OK, she’s a little cold, let’s do something with sushi. It is absolutely not politically motivated."
“It would be disingenuous to do an ad on Trump and not one on Hillary,” he added
