The Russian arm of the fast-food chain Burger King has apologised after offering women a reward of 3m roubles (£36,000; $47,000) and free Whopper burgers for life if they got pregnant with a World Cup player’s baby.
“Women who manage to get the best football genes will promote the Russian team’s success for generations to come,” the advert said.
The promotion caused public outrage in the competition’s host nation, forcing the company to delete it. “This is a direct reflection of the level our society is at towards women,” said one feminist community on the messaging app Telegram.
In advertising and in the media, Russian women are being portrayed as sexual predators hunting their prey.
Articles in the pro-Kremlin media describe the way they “bait foreign fans” and chat them up.
“Love tricks: Russian beauties catch foreign fans,” said Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper; while the Championat sport website told of “How Russian beauties snare foreigners”.
In one YouTube video, a state TV host says that “hundreds or thousands of vamps have flocked to Moscow” in the hope of meeting foreign football fans.
Sports website Championat has also been publishing a daily roundup of “top World Cup beauties”, and some prominent bloggers have followed suit.
