The advertisement features the familiar face of Gary Lineker as a builder on a construction site who refuses to share the Walkers Crisps in his lunchbox. In retaliation, a workmate presses a button to release a load of concrete on his head.
Unfortunately, the timing of the new campaign happens to coincide with the inquest of Slovakian Crossrail worker René Tkacik, who was killed last year when a tonne of wet concrete fell on him during shotcreting at BFK’s Fisher Street site under Holborn.
Construction union Ucatt described the advert as “extremely insensitive and offensive”. General secretary Steve Murphy said: “There is nothing amusing about accidents on construction sites and the timing of the advert could not have been worse. If Walkers have a social conscience they should remove the advert and immediately apologise to Mr Tkacik’s family.”
Now, with commendable speed, Walkers has done just that. A Walkers spokesperson said: "As soon as we were made aware of this issue we immediately took the decision to stop running this advert. We did not set out to cause offence and sincerely apologise for any upset that may have been caused."
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