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.”
“The Coles and One Direction promotion received the most nominations from our members and was unanimously voted the winner by our expert panel. They felt it epitomised the Pester Power award by appealing directly to children, encouraging them to persuade parents to buy unhealthy products for a desired return,” she continued.
A Coles spokesperson said in response to the Parents’ Jury decision: “One Direction is currently one of the world’s biggest musical acts, and in Australia their tour sold out in less than three minutes. The Coles One Direction competition gave us a bold and engaging opportunity to offer our customers and those who had missed out on tickets – both young and old – the chance to see the live show and share in the excitement and phenomenon that is; One Direction.
This award does not recognise the numerous ways we are committed to making life a little easier for parents. We are working hard to introduce a range of new initiatives to take the pressure out of the pester –including Lollie Free Aisles, and children’s learning opportunities in-store including “Moo Moo” and “Cluck Cluck” buttons.”
KFC’s ‘Snack in the face’ app was given the Digital Ninja award while Milo was handed the Smoke and Mirrors award for its ‘Official Drink of Play’ TV commercial.
Cricket Australia was applauded for its ‘Play Cricket‘ commercial and awards the Parents’ Choice Award.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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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!
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M’eh. Doesn’t matter what you do, someone somewhere is going to take offence with it.
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Coles – Down down, prices are down yet fatty sugar levels are up.
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