RENATA NEMETH
Nutella’s newly launched campaign in Australia, YourNutella, saw a darker side as people created inappropriate labels to share across social media.
The campaign encouraged customers to submit a personalised label, share it on social media, and receive a customised jar of the chocolate-hazelnut spread at home.
However, by allowing all sorts of names to be entered, the campaign soon saw people uploading Nutella jars labelled “poop” and “fatkidz.”
#mynutella @barrysaunders @mumbrella @drearyclocks @dannolan @leslienassar pic.twitter.com/U7SJULnD0T
— Ray Monde (@Ray_Monde_) September 17, 2015
InsideOut Public Relations director Nicole Reaney said the outcome was predictable, but it was a PR failing as Nutella is a brand that is marketed to families.
“When you hand the reins over to the public, you expose yourself to potential backlash, and sometimes that’s a good thing,” she said.
“In this particular campaign it’s not families being engaged, it’s probably people in their teens and twenties having a bit of fun.”
Nutella’s parent company Ferrero Australia expressed their disappointment in a statement.
“Although some people have chosen to use the campaign as an opportunity to create and post less than appropriate images online, most consumers have embraced it in the manner it was intended,” the company said.
https://twitter.com/MattyMcLean/status/641460875807756288
The conditions of the promotion say that all labels need approval by the promoter and names cannot be offensive, rude, defamatory or otherwise inappropriate.
Keep it clean you filthy east coast twitterati #mynutella pic.twitter.com/WE94Ol6Edd
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) September 17, 2015