Acknowledge? Absolutely. Celebrate? Certainly. But what you don’t do is commercialize and trivialize a holiday like Juneteenth. Walmart did exactly that, by creating a special edition, private label ice cream, called Juneteenth. Maybe the most egregious element was that they put a trademark symbol next to Juneteenth. Seriously? You’re probably thinking it can’t get worse. It does. The flavor is nearly identical to one sold by a Black-owned brand. Predictably, and understandably, the campaign was met with major social media backlash. Walmart issued a statement saying they’d remove items as appropriate and apologized for concern from some customers.
That is this issue’s top story. It’s also the subject matter for our blog. There’s never been a shortage of marketing blunders, and we acknowledge and accept the fact that people are human and will err. However, there are mistakes that seem so obvious they make you wonder why the marketer and/or agency didn’t say, “Stop,” before it started. Perhaps someone tried and was overruled. We shouldn’t be afraid to push the envelope, but there are things that require us to be on the same page. Fiat once sent 50,000 anonymous love letters to women in Spain. It was a creepy campaign to say the least. There are more.
Get ready to roll your eyes
Designer Kevin Cole once attempted to capitalize on civil unrest in Egypt by tweeting, “Millions are in an uproar in Cairo. Rumor is, they heard our spring collection is now available…” Using protests against human indignity is not a vehicle for marketing fashion. Cole, who supports many good causes, should have known better.
#WhyIStayed was a movement on Twitter for victims of domestic violence. DiGiorno’s tweet, “#WhyIStayed You had pizza,” was incredibly insensitive.
Bud Light had a campaign called, “Up for Whatever.” Upbeat, positive phrases were part of it. One of those was this: “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” Ignoring issues of consent wasn’t what Bud Light had in mind. They ceased and desisted.
These are just a few examples. Walmart’s recent blunder takes the proverbial cake.
An ounce of prevention
Brands tend not to like bad publicity, and most don’t intend to offend. Good marketing and PR pros know that it’s very difficult to apologize your way out of insensitivity, cruelty, and ignorance. And that’s the solution. Don’t do anything that might require an apology. You can be topical, you can even be cutting edge. You can be funny. You can’t be stupid. Or racist. Or mean.
NEVER use any human tragedy for marketing. Research things before associating with them. Spend some time examining your message to determine if it could be misconstrued. If a concept gives you even the slightest hesitation, toss it.