Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Sweet Cheeks
Heinz, as in the ketchup, ran the above Deli Mayo television advertisement in the United Kingdom. Then, the H.J. Heinz Company pulled the ad. According to Heinz spokesperson Michael Mullen:
"Heinz has confirmed that it withdrew a UK TV commercial for Deli Mayo last week because it was not in accordance with Heinz’s long-standing corporate policy of respecting everyone’s rights and values.
“Heinz pulled the ad in the UK because our consumer research showed that it failed in its attempt to be humorous and offended people on all sides,” said Michael Mullen, Director of Global Corporate Affairs for Heinz.
“Heinz apologizes for its misplaced attempt at humor and we accept that this ad was not in accordance with our long-standing corporate policy of respecting everyone’s rights and values.”
What the heck?
“Offended people on ALL sides”?
How many sides are there?
I e-mailed Mr. Mullen. I let him know that I thought Heinz should have taken a deep breath and waited for whatever fuss and bother there actually was to simmer down. I told him I was offended that Heinz had pulled the ad.
I thought the ad was cute, amusing and it certainly made me sit up and take notice. (Last time I checked, that’s exactly what a good TV ad is supposed to do.) Initially it was the difference in the accents that caught my attention, then hearing “Mum”. By then I was starting to think “I wonder what that sandwich spread is all about? I think I’d like to buy some of that.” Then I heard: “Hey! Ain’t you forgettin’ some’in?” and I was completely sold!
If you have an opinion about this, here’s how you can contact Mr. Mullen:
Michael.mullen(at)us.hjheinz(dot)com
Many thanks to Roo, over in England, who clued me in about all this. If you drop a note to Mr. Mullen, why not swing by Roo’s blog and let him know.
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5 comments:
oh my gosh, that is so cute! i love it!!!
A&I saw the add when it came on tv and thought it was funny! Me thinks the problem is that they try to be too politically correct over here... Hugs, xx
Yes that does not surprise me. I find you cant sneeze the weong way here and someone is offended. I saw that ad when it was first shown and thought it was funny. I think some people have too much time on their hands, maybe they should take up blog reading :)
x
That's a lovely ad, I wouldn't buy any of that revolting goop in a jar, but still ... a lovely & rather clever ad.
Hi All -
It's nice to see so many of us are on the same page about this sweet, funny, clever ad!
I received a response to my e-mail to Mr. Mullen. It was clearly a form letter (despite a personalized salutation) in that they didn't understand that I thought they should have continued to run the ad!
As I said to Roo over on his blog, part of the reason I'm so ticked off at Heinz is that they are cleaving so hard to the party line, that they are not listening to what we the consumers are saying.
The other reason is because it's a darn good ad. If you switch out the husband going off to work, to a wife going off to work, the ad still works. To me that proves that it's not "making fun" of or disrespecting a particular group of people.
Thanks!
- Lee
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