It’s bananas – Woolworths’ thoughtless PR debacle
Messing with people's bananas can have significant long-term consequences and Woolworths, normally one of Australia's strongest PR and marketing machines should have known better. Nick Albrow explores where the supermarket giant went wrong.
Shoppers are remarkably sensitive to changes to their fruit. Indeed, the myth that the European Union banned British supermarkets from selling straight bananas has been put forward as an explanation for Brexit.
So perhaps Woolworths, usually one of Australia’s strongest PR and marketing machines, could have better envisaged, and responded to, the backlash when one of its Queensland stores used plastic to pre-pack its bananas (despite the fact, as one online commenter pointed out, ‘they come already pre-packaged by nature’).
Pre-packaged bananas fail the pub test Source: Reddit
The issue, first posted on Reddit, quickly went viral, fuelled by increasingly antagonistic sentiment towards food packaging and plastic more broadly. Remember, it was only in July last year that Woolworths committed to phasing out single-use plastic bags in 12 months.
Despite the online uproar, Woolworths, surprisingly, stood by its decision with a statement claiming its Queensland customers preferred packaged bananas. Not only was this contrary to the prevailing social media commentary, it also fails the pub test in an increasingly pro-environment Australia.
Hi, this range of bananas are only available in Queensland stores and is used to package bananas of different sizes. This allows us to take more bananas of all sizes from farmers, minimising waste and helping customers better manage their budget at the checkout. 1/2
— Woolworths (@woolworths) March 5, 2018
The incident is yet another reminder of the power of social media and how a seemingly innocuous decision at one of thousands of a company’s sites can quickly escalate and threaten a carefully nurtured brand.
It is also a reminder of some of the principles of crisis PR.
But yeah, wrap those bananas, @woolworths! https://t.co/8eSmO8AKwz
— James Jeffrey (@James_Jeffrey) March 6, 2018
Can I be cynical & suggest that it’s not customers who prefer packaged bananas. It’s Woolworths.
Plastic packaging allows Woolies to slap a barcode on them, so ppl can’t pretend they’re onions at the self-serve checkouts.
Get rid of the plastic & hire more checkout operators.— Karen (@kcIMT122) March 6, 2018
First, make sure you are prepared for a crisis and have the systems in place and right people on call to effectively handle any issue that may arise. The folks at Woolworths Towers were nimble in their response, important in a crisis, but badly misjudged the message.
Second, when you make a mistake, acknowledge it quickly, apologise, and move forward stating the actions that will be taken to resolve this issue. Adding humour to the response can also be well-received – think of KFC’s response to its chicken shortage in the UK – although it’s a strategy that can backfire so err on the side of caution.
Third, stick to your brand values. Woolworths describes itself as the ‘fresh food people’, already an often criticised strap-line. Wrapping fruit in unnecessary plastic for a few Queenslanders does not conjure images of clean, natural, fresh produce.
Finally, when responding to a crisis, never do it in isolation but keep in mind the broader context. Excessive food packaging and plastic pollution are now environmental issues of global significance. From Kenya to France, countries are banning plastic bags, and every Australian state except NSW has vowed to introduce similar measures.
Woolworths’ initial decision, and its subsequent response, failed to capture the public mood.
The furore over the incident has died down for now, but, as the UK found out, messing with people’s bananas can have significant long-term consequences.
Nick Albrow is an account director at WilkinsonButler
Woolies PR machine not having the best month
Trying to be establish a good corporate image , whilst releasing results showing millions earned from poker machines from hapless gamblers in pubs and clubs
now trying to defend wrapping bananas in plastic, saying “helping customers better manage their budget at the checkout”… wtf??
cant you just tear off one or two bananas off a bunch and pay for that? Its sold by weight!
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Considering the World has a huge landfill problem, adding unnecessary packaging is a terrible idea. Shame.
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Plastic-wrapped bananas were not only available in Qld. On Monday this week we saw them in Woolies at Smithton in Tasmania. Luckily there were also unwrapped bananas, or else we wouldn’t have bought any from them. One of the more bizarre examples of marketing that I’ve seen. It always makes me wonder when I see people place a bunch of bananas in a plastic bag at the supermarket, but this is bordering on the insane!!
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If the perceived hygiene of supermarket trolleys and baskets was improved, you’d see fewer bagged bananas.
Last night I watched a trolley guy at Coles hocking up a loogie at trolleys – makes me want to bag everything.
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Woolworths in Marrickville, NSW, have packaged bananas today. Bloody stupid.
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Woolworths in Marrickville have packaged bananas!
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Not happy to see this happening. Pre package goods like these are not how I wish to buy my fruit and vegetables. Fresh food people don’t think so. Fruit and veg don’t even last a week. I’m now buying these items from our local IGA store eg: bought a bunch of fresh kale and as I’m the only one that eats it was slow using it up but still good for almost two weeks. Can’t get that from Woolworths fruit and veg and I am a share holder, so I’m not just saying this for no reason. Live in Tasmania and we get second hand quality fruit and veg. Both large supermarkets need to lift their game.
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Seriously please stop.prepacking sweet potatoes, bananas, roma tomatoes and even the mushrooms…way too much plastic which adds to the gigantic waste we are creating but wouldnt it reduce your costings as well? So l ch for the fresh food people…not much fresh of anything these days.
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Totally agree! I actually found IGA & ALDI to have veg that lasts 3 times as long as Woolworths. Woolies is the closest 2 me, but i rarely go there anymore. Their fruit and veg make look ok but once its home it’s only a couple of days b4 throwing out! THERE’S NO EXCUSE FOR PACKAGING BANANAS OR AVOCADOS EITHER! I just buy 1 or 2 at a time!
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Totally agree. Get rid of excess packaging and make sure supermarket trolleys and baskets are clean.
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Just buy your fruit and veges from the fruit shop. The choice is fresher quality and you can buy individual products.
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Seriously is Woolies saving on baking bread.??? Our fresh bread seemed quite stale this morning only to find that the middle was really cold. Now does that mean they put the left over bread in the fridge or freezer and put it back out the next day with a new label???
Fresh bread means baked on the day you buy it doesn’t it.
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#woolworthstheplasticfoodpeople
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https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10214343512757754&id=1115197305
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I am sick of going to Woolies and buying their shity stale fruit and veg I would not buy bananas packaged anyway shame on you Woolworths and the government for allowing shity Imports we pay top dollar for our fruit and veg here thanks to your imported rubbish that doesn’t even last 2 days
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The Spar at Redfern used to sell individual plastic wrapped passionfruits… like seriously?!
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Bananas wrapped in plastic, ferdincom, i’ve just about had a gut full of fruit in stupid plastic containers, it drives me nut’s, plastc bags on the roll feel more wholesome, if only they were made out of trees it would be evironmentally friendly. safeway’s like the fake news, always trying to brainwash us the opposite to what the population is actually thinking about any certain thing, and it makes me want to knock some brains into the actavist leftist’s in there political correctness. Im sick of being ripped off at safeway also, coniseur icecream safeway 10 dollars, aldis 4.60. im an icecream enthusiest, and the same icecream in aldis i reckon is actually better in taste or equal. I was a safeway loyalist, but my hip pocket gets really burnt, no matter how much they advertise cheapness on the media.its a ripp off. Sorry im being honest,as i said, i was a loyalist. I also just found out i have been massively ripped off by the commonwealth bank by about 600 every month. Time to wake up and cut the big FAKE institutions, that we have trusted and believed in for so long.
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It’s bananas!
(The irony!)
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I think they are containing bunches in plastic so the shopper can’t choose the best ones as we do. To avoid massive dumping of unsold bananas it is so much more economical to FORCE the BUYER to pick up more bananas and make sure they get rid of the ones ready to spoil. $3.50 kilo seriously? No wonder more andore people are heading to the markets on the week-end! Shame Wooli especially don’t consider the buying public or the environment just watch out for the profit margins. Aldis got a foot in the door from your pathetic, self interest marketing. Coles, you’re no better and your trolleys with that stupid right front wheel to stop theft is just plain dumb!
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Stupid idea , Aldi sell loose bananas of all sizes BUT they employ checkout operators to help the customers
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Why only going on about Woolworths, Coles also package bananas.
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Jeez, if you can’t spot a $600 / month rip off… something is a bit wrong …
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Aldi employ checkout operators to not help the customers, especially with packing groceries or to tell people that are new to their practices how they work.
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Woolworths Glenorchy (Southern Tas) also have pre packaged bananas, so it’s most definitely not just Queensland stores.
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The strangest thing is this goes way beyond bananas. All Woolies organic produce is wrapped in plastic. Just think about that for a moment. Produce that has been carefully grown free of pesticides & nastier chemicals is wrapped in plastic that contains hormone mimicking plasticisers. Yum. Going beyond organic produce, corn, sprouts, half pumpkins and so on. So it is much much worse than a “wrapped in plastic” banana story!
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Nick is an up and coming industry star – strongly recommend his cousel
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I prefer these bananas for several reasons. The local population have not pawed through the fruit bruising them as they roll against each other. The fruit is not bruised and lasts about twice as long on my shelf and as a result I can eat every banana with zero waste. They are smaller and I find the big bananas are just too large to eat in one sitting. The fruit flies do not bother the fruit for some reason in the packages so they remain free of the flies and the subsequent damage from their larvae burrowing into the fruit. I reuse the containers for storage of small electrical parts like USB sticks and charging cables. They don’t go in the ocean because they are stacked up in my workbench.
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