Innocent Drinks proudly sharing content today from the "legends" at er, Mermaids

[Fenlandia]

Purveyors of overpriced fruit pulp, Innocent, have been tweeting today some advice for being more inclusive. Seems like the internet is broken at Innocent HQ as no-one seems to have spotted why Mermaids have been in the news just this weekend (never mind over the last few months, and the ongoing investigation by the Charity Commission). Don't brand managers ever check if a partner might be a bit detrimental to their own reputation?

https://twitter.com/innocent/status/1663489437668462593

Fill your gender identity bingo cards with tweets about deadnaming, misgendering and mixed-sex toilets. Why a drinks brand feels the need to shout this at Twitter users is beyond me.

It's only been up for an hour or so and you can imagine how it's going down on Twitter!

''We’re always looking for ways to be more inclusive, so, we asked Mermaids to teach us what’s okay to say.
A charity that works with young gender diverse people, they teamed up with our LGBTQ+ and Fairness in Gender affinity groups to put on a workshop around language.''

Cripes.

That's some ratio! I believe Innocent is now owned by Coca Cola. The central marketing department must be getting flashbacks to the time they changed the Coca Cola recipe.

On Twitter right now, Innocent is owned by angry tweeters! The hidden replies are even better than the ones they haven't hidden yet, the social media admin must have RSI from doing all the hiding.

The thread is now unrolled and archived although I'm sure they wouldn't dream of deleting it.
archive dot ph/Q1OJS

What will the reverse ferret look like? 🫣

I'm sure they won't delete...more likely they'll double down and tell everybody what a bunch of twansphobic meanies they are.

Oh dear.

Someone in PR (possibly in the US) hasn't clocked this was a Bud Lite UK moment waiting to happen.

And that's why everyone else in marketing has been steering clear of Mermaids for a while.

Look at this hidden reply:

https://twitter.com/pastorshapes/status/1663498266179141635

I find it fascinating - they can't have done even the minimum of due diligence. What's the point of working in PR and marketing if you don't have an eye open to the possibility of reputational damage?

This is the best reply so far:

"Doing the corporate equivalent of clambering aboard the Hindenburg even as you can smell smoke and hear the screams is a genuinely amazing decision."

"teach us what it's OK to say"????
That's creepy.

I tweeted a BBC link about Jacob Breslow quitting Mermaids.

I won't be knitting any more hats for them, that's for sure.

I made a simple intarsia pattern for Venus hats if you want it. You can put them on the bottles at any time of year, no seems to mind.

I don’t think there’s a single response in support

I had to come off Twitter, I could have spent all afternoon going through that.

Yes! Apart from anything else, where have they been the last few years? Their tweet chain patronisingly explains terms that have been commonly used (albeit often challenged as well) across social media for years - deadnaming, misgendering, gender diverse, gender dysphoria. Why would they assume their target demographic would not already know all of this?

That's great, thanks! I could also do some in suffragette colours...

Mole at the Counter's response.

Boycotting Innocent, obviously. Maybe all the Coca Cola brands…..

Although you have to agree, they’ve provided some entertainment this afternoon 😆

Trouble is, so Innocent promoting Mermaids, and Tru-juice putting out utterly vile sexist adverts of the old-fashioned kind. That's pretty much the top two in our supermarkets. Do I need to invest in a smoothie-majer now even though I only indulge in one once in a blue moon?

Good god, can food and drink companies just go back to selling food and drink? Why are they even talking about this, they sell fucking smoothies???

I got a very frosty response on MN years ago when I said I couldn't see the point of smoothies. The human race managed perfectly well without them until recent years.

The replies are a delight to behold.