Coles called-out for One Direction campaign by advocacy group
Advocacy group The Parents’ Jury has named Coles’ ‘One Direction’ campaign as the winner of its Shame award for Pester Power for partnering with chocolate and crisp brands.
The campaign, which ran across print, online and social media, encouraged shoppers to try to win tickets to an exclusive One Direction concert.
The Parents’ Jury campaigns manager Alice Pryor said in a statement: “The One Direction promotion was a missed opportunity for Coles. Instead of encouraging healthy eating, Coles partnered with brands such as Cadbury’s, Coca-Cola and Pringles to drive the competition.”
100% agree – this was a missed opportunity by Coles. Why couldn’t they use a healthier product? Why does it always have to be chips or chocolate? While the longer term initiatives are important (e.g. lolly free aisles), if Coles was serious about helping parents and reducing the number of overweight kids they would think more carefully about how they run these kind of ads which get a lot of attention and undo all the good work they claim to be trying to do!
M’eh. Doesn’t matter what you do, someone somewhere is going to take offence with it.
Coles – Down down, prices are down yet fatty sugar levels are up.