Oatly takes out ad in The Guardian to mock 'desperately out of touch' parents about pronouns in email signatures

Personally in relation to people I think that they need the option of changing their minds. I think it is important to have a way back after making mistakes

They are selling oat milk. Not trying to organise a peace treaty.

What always astonishes me in these type of things is that I presume many people came up with this “advert”. Many educated people with qualifications and degrees.
And yet no one questioned why it might not be a good idea to be snotty about the people who actually buy their product.

Personally in relation to people I think that they need the option of changing their minds. I think it is important to have a way back after making mistakes.

Completely agree with this, otherwise you just end up with entrenched positions. There's no point anyone rethinking ideas if any apology is met with "too late".

Personally in relation to people I think that they need the option of changing their minds. I think it is important to have a way back after making mistakes.

I’m inclined to be impressed by that old fashioned attitude to dealing with customers - the customer is always right. It has been rather depressing that some companies have been quick to tell customers that they are wrong maybe even evil and the custom of the evil is not wanted.

Basic respect and politeness for customers is important to me and I think that the email demonstrates that even though the advertising didn’t. So perhaps they will try a different approach. I’d give a second chance in this case.

Agree with you @BaronessWrongCrowd and @DaisiesandButtercups

I think they've realised they messed up and the response was pretty fair.

I'm now pondering whether in these situations, the "right" thing to do is to give them a second chance (not by buying their products, necessarily) but just mentally. It's kind of more general academic musing by me....what do others here do? Do you tend to operate a one strike approach with these issues or accept an apology if they then also change their ways?

Aren’t they biting the hand that pays them

And put their ads mocking the aged parentals where the old fogeys would see them, not da kidz.

Rookie mistake.

I should add- they realised a bit late that it turns out that kids don't make weekly shop decisions in the household.

Reading between the lines they didn't get the response they wanted and realised they have alienated their core market.

Thanks for sharing that Leafstamp. That is a lot more sensible than some responses I’ve seen from other companies which often just insult the person complaining even more.

I just got the following response from Oatly:

"Thanks for taking the time to get in touch to share your thoughts with us and so sorry for the delayed response here. Our inbox has been overflowing with responses to our campaign so it’s taking us a quite a while to get through each and every message.

I’m sorry to hear that you found our Guardian ad patronising, it was of course not our intention though is something we will take on board. Our goal with this campaign is to open up the discussions about the environmental impact of our daily food choices. Our campaign aims to bring a bit of humour to help get these conversations about sustainability started and certainly not to upset anyone. However, the response has been very mixed, with it being taken very seriously by some readers which is something we are taking on board.

We really appreciate your support for the oat so far and are sorry that our Guardian ad caused you offence. However, if you decide that Oatly is no longer for you, I hope that you are able to find a plant-based alternative that you enjoy just as much as our products.

Thanks again for getting in touch and sharing your thoughts with us, we appreciate it. If you have any other questions or thoughts, we're happy to answer them."

It will be interesting to see if their next campaign tries to win back some of us who wrote in to complain! I'm actually going back to watered down cow's milk!

@JaneJeffer

Looks like it was designed by David Brent.

😂😂

Brilliant, thank you! I'll give it a try tomorrow. (I would have been happy to drive it because I'm such a lazy arse )

Sieve (too much champagne ☺️)

Drive = seive

1/2 cup oats - 3 cups cold water (must be cold or goes yukky). Zizz for 30 seconds in a blender and then drive through a nut bag - only squeeze lightly. Some recipes call to soak over night but this works absolutely fine.

This is the basic plain - perfectly nice on muesli. You can add vanilla to it to sweeten it or some people put dates in it.

Et Voila.

I now make my own oat milk. Why didn’t I do this before??? Cheap(er) as chips and takes less than a minute

Can you share your method ThatIsNotMyUsername? I made some in the first lockdown and it was really nice, but a bit of a faff as I recall. I've been buying Alpro as they understand biology and respect their customers, but we go through loads and it's pricey.

Very ageist but let them be. It is mostly water so environmentally damaging, expensive and pointless to drink the stuff.

Oh and it was my ‘old giffer’ of a DH that switched us into oat milk and not out teen. Own goal oatly!

I now make my own oat milk. Why didn’t I do this before??? Cheap(er) as chips and takes less than a minute.

Nice they've got so much cash to splash then - don't need ours

Actual slot!

Super Bowl advertising? As in they took an actual slot, or is it something brands just do around a theme these days? Those slots cost a fortune.

Trying Minor Figures oat milk. Saw my local Starbucks use it although they'll probably switch to Oatly now after the mermaid biscuit crap