German smoothie company tries unrepentant sexism as a marketing strategy

Image via Adland

Adland recently made me aware of a marketing controversy in Germany. Apparently, this smoothie's packaging makes fun of its unappetizing design with the following:

"Limited No 6 - Black Edition. Have you ever helped an ugly female friend -- who's a really nice person on the inside -- get a date? That's how we are feeling with our smoothie here which might be the tastiest we have ever made but who doesn't get the love it deserves because of its looks. We saw no other solution but to turn off the lights so you can fully embrace its inner values."

A sexist joke is always good for some outrage earned media, and that's exactly what has happened, as well as the inevitable "have a sense of humour" defence.

Personally, I can't even work up outrage over this one. It is a cynical marketing move designed to rack up social mentions.

Brave? No, just tiresome.

Jarlsberg: Fear of a Black Baby

It's an old joke: The white woman with a white husband has a Black baby. It's the punchline of a joke that goes way back in time, and it's awful.



In this case, it's used as a sight gag in a Norwegian ad for Jarlsberg cheese, by TRY/APT, Oslo. As Joe La Pompe points out, the overall ad concept is unoriginal, as it is suspiciously similar to a French paper ad that won a Bronze Lion at Cannes just last year.

The French ad used the comparison of "this is inferior to that" in a comical and fairly harmless way. Now let's look at the same gag in the Norwegian spot:

Jarlsberg is to other cheeses as:

• Football (Soccer) is to Vacuous American Entertainment Shows
• Proper Funeral Attire is to Inappropriate Party Attire
• A Formal Caregiver is to a Male Stripper
• A Nursing Home is to a Mental Hospital

and...

• A White Husband is to an Affair with a Black Man

See the problem? Well, there is more than one, but the black baby gag is the most objectionable.

Enough with the racist jokes, already. This is the 21st Century. Playing on white fears of Black sexuality is old, and it's harmful.

Barilla Pasta: If the gays don’t like it they can eat another brand

Totally not gay. Via jazarah.net

The Independent reports that Barilla Chairman Guido Barilla told Italy’s La Zanzara radio show last night:

“I would never do an advert with a homosexual family…if the gays don’t like it they can go and eat another brand. For us the concept of the sacred family remains one of the fundamental values of the company.”

Via accademialigustica.it

According to Italy's Gazzetta Del Sud, calls for a boycott of the world's largest pasta brand are spreading through Italy under the hashtag #boicottabarilla — now trending on Twitter.

People are also developing visuals to share:

"Love is for the brave. Everything else is Barilla pasta."
(It's a play on Barbara Alberti's "Love is for the brave, everything else is torque")

The translated hashtag #boycottbarilla has since made the jump to global social media.

The back-pedalling has already begun. In an official statement from the company, Mr. Barilla issued this non-apology: “I’m sorry if my comments on La Zanzara have created misunderstanding or polemic, or if I’ve offended anyone. In the interview I only wanted to underline the central role of the woman in the family." They have also posted a statement on Facebook: "Barilla in its advertising has always chosen to represent the family because this is the symbol of hospitality and affection for everyone." (As if that doesn't just make things worse — same-sex partners don't make families?)

If the Barilla brand is going to take a hit over this, however, it's going to take more than that to make things right. Aurelio Mancuso, president of gay-rights group Equality Italia, told the Italian press,  "We accept his invitation to not eat his pasta."

Alessandro Zan, an MP with the left-wing SEL party, got a better one in:

"I've already changed pasta brands. Barilla is terrible quality."

Dio mio!

The death of an ice cream brand.

Remember these ads?



Breyers ice cream was once a brand built on the "all-natural" mantra. (Their most famous ad, which I can't seem to find, had a kid trying to pronounce the ingredients.)

Here's a later campaign, built on the same USP:



That's history now. In 1996, they started adding the very ingredients they used to make fun of, as a cost-cutting measure. And as The Consumerist points out today, many of their flavours can no longer technically be called "ice cream" in the United States:

The Unilever-owned corporate web site explains:

Frozen Dairy Dessert products are made with many of the same high-quality ingredients that are commonly found in Ice Cream – like fresh milk, cream and sugar – and offer a great taste and even smoother texture. These products do not fall within the current FDA definition of standardized Ice Cream, so we call them Frozen Dairy Dessert. 

... 

Since 1866, Breyers products have consistently delivered high-quality ingredients, great flavors and smooth creaminess that our fans love, and we remain committed to that Pledge. Our Ice Cream and new Frozen Dairy Dessert varieties continue to use fresh milk, cream and sugar. What distinguishes our Frozen Dairy Dessert from our Ice Cream is that it’s blended in a whole new way to create a smoother texture.

...and a cheaper product.

Old Man Breyer must be spinning in his grave.

Human anatomy — in macaroon form

Foodbeast's Dominique Zamora shared these rather weird confections soon to be offered at Eat Your Heart Out, "Deliciously bad-taste cakes, for Adult Eyes Only."

Compared to the vag-eye-na and nippled cupcakes they feature, these organs are rather tame.

Local burger joint offers to fight anorexia

CBC Ottawa has a story about this food court ad, for local burgerjoint Manhattan Burgers, that caught the eye of psychology student Genevieve Hayden.

"That's not the kind advertising that anorexia and mental health illnesses need to get," she told the media. "They need to get positive advertising about how it is a real issue and not 'eat this burger and you'll be okay.'"

She's absolutely right, but the controversy that followed highlights the difficulties of using humour in advertising in a more sensitive age.

The restaurant owner, Fauzy Kaddoura, responded, "That's where I think the disease starts out, doesn't it? Most people worry about their figure. They think they're too big and they stop eating. And I was just thinking this is sort of the opposite."

It was an honest mistake, born of ignorance about the disease. And to his credit, Mr. Kaddoura decided to change it anyway, suggesting "Help us fight the diet craze."

Much better—it's actually what he was trying to say in the first place. And another potentially acrimonious conflict gets settled Canadian-style.

Miranda Kerr's Japanese ad moment #FdAdFriday

Okay, so she's a lemon Mrs. Claus and she appears to have been dubbed with a Japanese accent.



My favourite part is what seems to be a drunken Santa in the background.

Keep them coming, Japanese ad industry. They never fail to perplex us over here.

Via The Gloss (where you can see another of her ads in the campaign).

Does your husband yawn at the table?

Via Retronaut

It could be your cooking. But it could be worse: "Most husbands, nowadays, have stopped beating their wives..."

Sara Lee cakes rebranded under processed meat

Even as a Canadian, whose crappy frozen cakes usually carried the McCain brand, I knew Sara Lee's slogan "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!"

The double negative was a stroke of genius, one of the few times it actually (as our English teachers always contended) created a positive.

Well, no more. According to Business Insider:


Sara Lee Corp. told investors today that it will change its name to Hillshire Brands Co. (ticker symbol "HSH") in an attempt to buoy falling sales of its packaged meat products Wednesday.

Hillshire? The sausage brand?

Well, yes. Apparently the frozen cake business hasn't been doing too well, and bringing the sweet late night freezer raid bait under the salty, questionably-harvested meat brand is going to help.

Best of luck with that. Because nobody doesn't like mechanically separated pork...

And by "bits" they mean "tits"... #FdAdFriday

Ummm... yeah.

Copyranter posted this mindless bit of mammary euphemism for Club Orange, an Irish orange juice brand that seems a little obsessed with squeezing round things.

That's right. Their entire brand is build around a boobies joke that isn't even funny.

Here's their Facebook:

And here is their outdoor campaign:

If great brands are built around a single-minded idea, then this one must be twice as great.

Right?

New steak "discovered," named after Las Vegas

The Drovers Cattle Network reports on a big unveiling that happened at last month's "Protein Innovation Summit" in Chicago: The world's newest cut of beef.

Called The Vegas Strip Steak, it got the cattlemen pretty excited. But the way they talk about meat is pretty unappetizing, even to a steak fan like me:

With more than 30 years of beef carcass research and development, Mata, the self-proclaimed Meat Geek, approached Nelson and Oklahoma State University’s FAPC with the possibility of a new beef carcass cut. 

Seriously. PETA couldn't ask for better framing than the repeated use of "carcass" when talking about what is supposed to be an appetizing food. But then again, the whole idea of "Protein Innovation" makes me think more of pink slime than of wholesome meat dishes.

The actual muscle used is still under wraps, as the innovators are hoping to win a patent on the cut.

But it looks like this:

That picture is from the cut's promotional site, which states:

There’s nothing else quite like steak and it epitomizes the pleasure of eating beef. That’s what prompted a meat scientist, a chef and a university to team up to find a new steak, saving an undervalued muscle from the fate of the grinder and moving it to a far more valuable place – the center of the plate. 

In economically squeezed times, restaurants are looking for high quality at lower costs. It took the passion and innovation of our dedicated team to find a steak to fit that need.

So it's basically something that would otherwise end up as "trim" — which is where hamburger comes from. But how has this cut not been found before?

There are a couple of things that make me wonder:

First, look at this quote:

“The Vegas Strip Steak is the latest and perhaps last steak to be found from the beef carcass,” said Jacob Nelson, Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center value-added meat processing specialist. 

"Value-added meat processing"? There's another thing that makes me think of pink slime. Could just be their shop talk, though.

Second, they keep referring to the steak as "fabricated":

“This steak can be fabricated from 4 ounces to 12 ounces,” Nelson said. “Versatility of this steak allows it to be utilized across a wide range of food service sectors.” 

 "...two suppliers are fabricating the cut and interested parties can be licensed to use the cut."

“Given the history of the beef industry, the discovery of a new beef steak that has never before been fabricated and marketed could appear to be an impossibility,” 

Once again, this could just be industry jargon. But the "impossibility" part also raised my curiosity.

As well promoters boast that the steak is "super tender" and "requires no aging". How is it that such an amazing cut of meat has never before been discovered by generations of butchers?

Is it possible that this steak isn't a solid cut at all, but reformed meat?

You see, the process of gluing together pieces on meat from the same (or different animals) using transglutaminase and beef fibrin to make larger cuts has been under media scrutiny of late.

Says Reuters:

The U.S. Agriculture Department says the enzymes, which are also used in imitation crabmeat and some pasta and dairy products, must be listed on the ingredient label of anything containing them. 

But because most meat containing the enzymes is sold to the food service industry, critics say few consumers know they're eating them. 

Critics have also suggested the enzymes, which are derived from beef plasma and other sources, could be used to deceive consumers by turning smaller, inexpensive cuts of meat into what appear to be premium cuts.

Note that the Vegas Strip Steak is being promoted directly to the service industry.

I don't really have time to delve further into this miracle meat discovery. But I sure will be watching how it unfolds.

Chick-Fil-A by no means wants you to eat more kale

That's Vermont artist Bo Muller-Moore, who sells his curious "Eat More Kale" shirts at eatmorekale.com. There, he says "I'm also about eating locally, supporting local farmers, bakers, famers markets, farm stands, CSA's, community gardens and restaurants, sustainable lifestyles, social commentary and community. Most importantly, I'm about printin' Vermont's one-at-a-time orginial design t-shirts. Have fun and remember: eat more kale!!!"

The man loves kale.

But Chick-Fil-A think it's a ripoff of their ads:

They have sent him a cease and desist letter, and are apparently prepared to sue. They even want him to hand over his internet domain. But Muller-Moore has lawyered up and declares, "Our plan is to not back down. This feels like David versus Goliath. I know what it's like to protect what's yours in business."

As does the big chicken chain, which will probably not give up either unless it starts to hurt their PR. Let's hope it does.

Via The Consumerist and Yahoo! Finance

Marketing Big Meat

Mother Jones recently ran an interesting exclusive: branding and packaging pages from a draft marketing plan fror Sara Lee about how they could reposition Hillshire Farm deli meats as a more sustainable and healthy option.

The scanned document looks like it was nicked from a recycling bin, but it's worth reading just for gems like this:

Give it up for pepper!

And this:

Good job, bees!

This off-the-cuff, conversational style is supposed to represent a new era of transparency and sustainability  in megameat.

Well, aspiring to transparency and sustainability anyway. And buying up small farms so that their newly-pluralized brand name actually means something.

It's good, though, that consumer pressure is forcing big processors into at least wanting to be seen as wholesome and small.

They also want to break into the food snob market by developing two new premium brands, "Smith & Smith" and "Flat Iron Ranch".

"Size of the prize"? I'm amazed that agency people can present that to a client with a straight face. But they also committed the following atrocities:

I am so ashamed of my industry right now.

Does this look into the marketing minds behind Big Meat surprise you? Disappoint you? Or just confirm what you already suspected.

This kind of rebranding, dressing factory-processed meat in a neighbourhood butcher's apron, is happening throughout the packaged meat sector.

But the big question is, how much marketing spin are you prepared to swallow?

And note to self: shred all draft marketing plans.

F'd Ad Fridays: Organic dairy boy band is no joke

And that, in itself, is ridiculous. Despite transplanting all the well-worn 'N Sync et cetera audio and video clichés to a farm setting, this campaign for Yeo Valley organic dairy never actually manages to be funny. Even the moo and the "Got Milk?" moustache shot seem genuine and earnest.



Meanwhile, AdFreak notes that this mad-up group, "Churned", will appear on Britain's The X Factor talent show and will have this song available on iTunes.

Is this some kind of super-subtle new British humour I'm not aware of?

Cheech & Chong's Next Next Movie

Great to see them working together again. There's a nice surprise at the end of the... umm... trailer.



Sweet.

Via Illegal Advertising

F'd Ad Fridays: Selling drugs on campus

What a very, very bad idea:

Red Bull's back-to-school campaign promotes itself with this line:

In my parents' day, many students popped "diet pills" to improve academic performance. Everyone knows they drink lots of coffee and Coke. But is it really ethical to promote your stimulant-laden drink (not to mention all that sugar) to students as a way to have more fun in school?

Using stimulants to pull all-nighters is a bad idea. Mixing Red Bull with vodka to party all night is also a bad idea. Yes, students commonly do both of these things. But using their stupid susceptibility to high-risk behaviours as a way to market an energy drink is really, really evil.

F'd Ad Fridays: "We're out of milk!"

And here I thought lactose tolerance was rare in Japan. Perhaps it's just the dairy ads that cause indigestion...

Via wtfjapanseriously.com

How is flavoured instant coffee just like adultery?

They're both a really bad idea.

These Publicis Conseil ads for Nescafé's "Dolce Gusto" line of flavoured hot beverages seem a little subtle and sophisticated for people who don't like the taste of coffee. But perhaps it's a French thing.

Via Ads of The World