Maple Leaf joins the big brands backing same sex marriage

It's getting harder and harder to keep track of all the ad campaigns that embrace marriage equality. The most recent headline-generator was Honey Maid's "wholesome" campaign, and especially their video response to the resulting criticism.

Compared to such epicness, the brief validation of two women in wedding gowns in this rather heavy-handed emotional brand video seems almost conservative:



Same-sex marriage has been nationally recognized here in Canada since 2005, so the brand isn't taking the same chances as an American one would.

Regardless, good for Maple Leaf. I don't usually buy their products, as I'm kind of grossed out by processed meats that come from industrial facilities. But at least they're adding some progressive social realities to their brand.

Who needs feminism when you have bacon? #changeyourlifewithbacon

Maple Leaf is currently pushing this video on Facebook ads. It tells the story of a woman who calmly accepts her role in the universe, which is that of a 1950s mom who is expected to do all the cooking and cleaning of the house. Plus, she has the added bonus that her husband is a selfish man-child who can't even be bothered to do "manly" chores like change lightbulbs (which is clearly far too sciencey for her pretty little head).

You might think that this lady would find relief by discovering that women are not required to be slaves/doormats to heir husbands and children anymore, and would woman up and take control of her life. But who needs feminism when you have bacon?

That's right, just feed delicious strips of salt, fat and nitrates to your husband and kids, three meals a day, and they will suddenly do your every bidding. Because apparently, none of them has figured out how to use a frying pan. Or a microwave. Or even a box of pre-cooked bacon:

Hey, I love bacon too. But this ad is stuck in another era, in which women were expected to manipulate "their" men by coddling them like children. And men were stupid oafs who were that easy to manipulate.

Via  ecrater.com

Ah, the good old days! You see? Women have always had the power of pork.

To add "Epic" to this Fail, the URL changeyourlifewithbacon.com doesn't even go anywhere (at 4:30 pm EDT).

UPDATE: It's 9:20 pm, and the link is live. It goes to a Facebook app. But launching the ads before the landing page was ready is a major screw-up.

They're also taking this "will do chores for bacon" concept all the way:

Via flatdev.johnst.net, which tells me who is behind the campaign.

Mom's place, apparently, remains in the kitchen.

Where is your next meal coming from?

There are two campaigns circulating currently that have got me thinking about food trends and how they play out in advertising.

Those of you who know me know that I can be a bit of a food snob. With a few comfort food exceptions, I tend to buy stuff that is locally raised and processed, or from a trusted source, and that never touched a factory farm.

I guess I'm not alone. A couple of generations ago, the mechanization of the food industry was seen as a way to ensure quality, purity and cleanliness. In the decades after The Jungle was written, the industrial revolution — then the space age — completely changed people's relationship with food. It was processed, preserved and packaged by SCIENCE. And it was convenient, too!

But times have changed. Instead of The Jungle, we are reading Fast Food Nation. And factory food has gone (in the public mind) from ensuring cleanliness to efficiently spreading pathogens.

So, how should big food brands respond? In the case of fast food, it's to try to convince customers that their ingredients really are "real food", and that the chain of custody can be trusted.

These ones are from McDonalds in UAE (via Ads of the World):

 

I don't like them either. They seem desperate, and they're not very appealing.

This one, on the other hand, for Domino's Pizza, shows how CP+B keeps earning its reputation as a creative powerhouse:



AdFreak adds that the whole thing is real: the agency actually recruited focus group members, drove them to the room in cars with covered windows, and recorded authentic reactions.

Same strategy, very different approaches. But does either convince you that fast food is wholesome?