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

[theskyispink]

twitter.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/1355862358728597507/photo/1

Take a drink - another drinks company goes ultra-woke.

What a really horrible ad. Mean spirited and nasty as well as ridiculous.

Won’t buy that again. Although funnily enough, my buying oat milk is one of the things my teen does actually mock me for!

@WouldBeGood

What a really horrible ad. Mean spirited and nasty as well as ridiculous.

Won’t buy that again. Although funnily enough, my buying oat milk is one of the things my teen does actually mock me for!

So mean spirited. My dh is at breaking point trying to keep his job going so he can (among other things!) afford to buy bloody oatmilk which costs a fortune! Made me cross.

I couldn’t remember exactly what my boy says but he’s reminded me: “God gave you so many animals to get milk from, and you choose to get it from a nut” 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't have teenagers so please could someone tell me if they would take any notice of this advert?

And how many teenagers read the Saturday Times

No

Not mine,

None here to pp te teens

It’s advertising crowd probably young and often sexist running away with a theme

I hope people who say they’re stopping do as the increase in awareness due to people talking about it needs to be countered!

@MissBarbary

There's a double page spread Oatley ad on being the dad of a teenager in the weekend magazine. It's a steaming pile of patronising, ageist crap.

I saw that, the best line was "being a teenager is hard, especially with a Dad in the house" as if it would be somehow better or easier if your dad wasn't in the picture? Wtf. It also made out that all dads were knuckle dragging meat eaters who wouldn't know what seitan was.

thesparkthatbled My thoughts exactly.

I did see someone suggest that the liquid extracted from oats and nuts should not be referred to as milk but as juice.
Anyone for a glass of nut juice?!

@gailforce1 that’s always struck me, squash an apple add water and fortify = juice category. Or maybe flavoured water.

In fact as almond has less than 2 almonds in it, maybe it’s more homeopathic, with the memory of almonds magical properties...

@gailforce1

thesparkthatbled My thoughts exactly.

I did see someone suggest that the liquid extracted from oats and nuts should not be referred to as milk but as juice.
Anyone for a glass of nut juice?!

Soya 'milk' is referred to as bean juice in this house, as that's all out tastes of: beans. Nothing milk-like about it at all.

We call the dairy-substitutes that we use oaty, almondy and ricy.

The only thing about them that is intrinsically healthy is that they do us less harm than milk, which can give us cramps and squits.

I'm late to this, but I was reading The Times magazine over lunch, saw it and remembered this thread. One of our DC is still a teen and vegetarian, so perhaps DH is their target here.

I therefore asked DH if he'd seen the ad. He said he'd started reading it, thinking it was editorial, then realised it was an ad, but still had no idea what it was advertising, thought it was bonkers, and quickly turned the page! Obviously, DC don't read the ST magazine...

Anyway, the magazine also has a full-page ad for Sainsbury's, almost no writing, picture of food (meat!), price, all very clear. Job done.

No idea what Oatly is thinking of with those ads, but no doubt they played well within the hip young marketing department.

Oatly have sponsored an episode of Ed Miliband's Reasons to be Cheerful podcast today, educating middle aged men on the importance of plant based diets for the planet. Won't be listening.

I'm still waiting for a reply to my email...

I've been thinking about this all week and how ludicrously bad at their job whoever came up with this campaign is.
Firstly something aimed at teenagers being put in a print newspaper. Secondly the idea that if some unlikely earth shattering event teenagers were sent to do the weekly shop they wouldn't choose a big bottle of sugar filled Yazoo over a cartoon of chocolate oat milk. (the lactose intolerant excluded obvs).
We used to buy oatly. Not anymore.

I have had a reply and am even more angry now: patronising, woke and so disparaging, honestly it was just so rude (and I am a vegan, passionate about climate change, very interested in the gender critical debate). I can't post it, but will never, ever buy their products again. I feel angry all over again now thinking about it!

Oh do post it - edited to anonymise. Expose their nonsense to the daylight!

Noticed today that Alpro oat drink is cheaper than Oatly in Tesco.

I checked the ingredients on the various brands and they all contain rapeseed or sunflower oil which puts me off now I know about it. I tried lactose free but it doesn't help with my particular problem with dairy (mucous producing).

I have now partially solved my milk problem by drinking my coffee black and switching to herbal tea. My teen dcs don't drink milk in any form anyway (part of what's weird about the Oatly campaign is that in my experience teenagers don't really drink/use milk very much, in hot drinks or otherwise - but then we're not a breakfast cereal-eating household) and DH is happy enough with normal dairy.

Just finished the last of my stash of Oatley Barista and will be switching to MOMA (which was 35p cheaper than Oatley this week).

Hopefully MOMA are a little more interested in making decent oat milk and less interested in what anyone things about the ephemeral.

I had a little chuckle in Sainsbury’s yesterday when I saw that they’d been cleaned out of Alpro oat but there was still a full shelf of Oatly. Vagaries of stock replenishment, or Oatly having a Ratners moment? fun anyway.

@CaptainMyCaptain

I checked the ingredients on the various brands and they all contain rapeseed or sunflower oil which puts me off now I know about it. I tried lactose free but it doesn't help with my particular problem with dairy (mucous producing).

You should be able to find oil free oat milk if you look at organic versions, but be warned they make a god awful cup of tea, I assume because it is the fat in the milk that binds with the tannins and this is what the rapeseed oil is subbing in for. On this basis I have made my peace with the oil because I love a good cup of tea, want to reduce our carbon impact and cow's milk gives me cramps anyway.

Oatly have lost me to Oato over this and I am absolutely loving the regular doorstep deliveries and glass bottles.

I am also a vegan climate activist and know passionate activists of all ages including arrestee grannies so it went down like a cup of cold sick here.

Ratners. Definitely.

Women. Leaving stuff on the shelves. One product at a time.

I did notice that when I was in Tesco, the Oatly displays looked untouched, whereas the Alpro Oat shelf had gaps signalling a carton had been purchased.

But I'm hesitant to attribute that to a reaction to the ad campaign. It might simply be that Oatly are doing a big push of an ad campaign because Alpro Oat is more popular than their product, and the campaign hasn't made any net change

Could always check with Companies House

@NoCureForLove

I'm still waiting for a reply to my email...

Me too. I’m going to chase it tomorrow!

@lucyposting please do share what your reply said.