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.

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

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

Rookie mistake.

Aren’t they biting the hand that pays them

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?

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.

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".

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

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

Oh, without questions, people and groups are allowed to be mistaken etc.

The pig headed part of me though, thinks that large businesses should know better because supposedly they are educated and trained to do a job and surely these things get discussed with at least one other and then get signed off at a higher level? If that many people/links in the chain are getting it so wrong then it makes me suspicious of the culture within the company.

x-posted @Bythemillpond

I agree with you!

I absolutely don't think you can give them a second chance .
The public have little control over clever advertising - and if we can give them a bloody nose once in a blue moon (and it's rare that we can influence anyone- whilst processed food sellers and supermarkets can constantly spew bollox about how they are putting the shopper/ public/ consumer first when obviously as a profit making business their shareholders / otofits come first) then we should do it .
They'll tread more warily in the future and actually just maybe listen to our views

This is problem with wider culture in advertising as well as other spheres. It is not just this one company. Their response is a breath of fresh. I wish more companies would focus more on just selling their product and less on pushing whatever agenda they think is currently the most trendy, world peace or otherwise.

They don't get given a second chance. They will have to work for it. Or so I would say, if I drank oat milk.

One polite respectful letter that happens to be shared on a message board should be not enough to get multiple customers back.

@Blue5238 is it Oato? If so , you are in for a treat!

Fair enough that they at least responded politely unlike eg innocent people who just get even more offensive the more people question them.

That advert is tone deaf though and I won't be buying more of their products. Even the tumble drier bit pissed me off - whose clothes are in the tumble drier in my house?? Mostly not mine that's for sure. Don't like how much your parents run the tumble drier? Fuck off and wash your own clothes then.

I find it incredible the number of people that must have reviewed and signed that off before it was published and noone spoke up that it sucked??

@Bythemillpond crossed posts, totally agree with you!

The pig headed part of me though, thinks that large businesses should know better because supposedly they are educated and trained to do a job and surely these things get discussed with at least one other and then get signed off at a higher level? If that many people/links in the chain are getting it so wrong then it makes me suspicious of the culture within the company

I imagine there were people who thought this wasn’t a good idea but the pendulum has swung so far that to question whether the advert was really a good idea would have probably got them thrown out of not just the company but been black balled from ever working in advertising again.

Well that is fucking offensive

I stopped buying when they sold out to blackstone. We bought about £15 of Oatly a week . If everyone stopped buying then they'd feel it. Like they say, go woke go broke. They have been downright rude to customers. I hope they fold.

@Bythemillpond

The pig headed part of me though, thinks that large businesses should know better because supposedly they are educated and trained to do a job and surely these things get discussed with at least one other and then get signed off at a higher level? If that many people/links in the chain are getting it so wrong then it makes me suspicious of the culture within the company

I imagine there were people who thought this wasn’t a good idea but the pendulum has swung so far that to question whether the advert was really a good idea would have probably got them thrown out of not just the company but been black balled from ever working in advertising again.

Yes, you're probably right. So depressing. Which kind of leads on to the other active thread on this board about when will this all end?

Answer: Not bloody soon enough!

Looking at their Twitter feed it seems they are mainly going down the 'Our key customer base know we are joking, sorry you're--too square-- offended.

I have no email response yet, but as I signed off thirty plus bigoted breeder I think my reply might be a bit different

I agree that apologies need to be accepted, but I think there's a place for the old adage, "actions speak louder than words". The action that caused me to think they are wankers idiots was the ad campaign. So, I'm looking for a proportionate action, not just an apology (though that is nice to have). Basically, get your house in order, put out ads that actually appeal to your target market and stop spouting shit. Do that for a bit and I'll think about buying what your company is selling. Prove to me that you don't view me with contempt, don't just tell me.

Interestingly I noticed that there was a lot less alpro and virtually full Oatly shelves on my last shop. Coincidence?

@Bythemillpond

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.

You reminded me of a true story shared by an old advertising copywriter, Jerry della Femina. His company had landed the National Panasonic account .Back then being a Japanese firm was a drawback credibility wise. Japanese goods were regarded as cheap copies of things made in the West - and then there was the War. So in a brainstorming session with the top executives della Femina said ' hey I got a slogan, the whole campaign can be built on this slogan' What is it Jerry ? - ' From those wonderful people who brought you Pearl Harbour!' Silence. Of course nobody said it was a great slogan , for obvious reasons. But neither did anyway say it was in awful taste. And worst of all , he thought , nobody laughed. Later he realised they were all frozen with fear : what if the boss liked it ? Such is the wacky world of PR.

I was wondering which agency came up with this whole concept and discovered....

... they fired the whole traditional marketing team and "reinvented" their own 'Department of Mind Control'.

www.contagious.com/io/article/oatly-department-mind-control

The arrogance of the man in this video is utterly breathtaking. I will not be giving them a second chance.