The Courier Mail’s breakup message from Charlotte revealed to be ad for telco Circles Life
An ad that appeared in the Courier Mail which seemed like a woman was publicly breaking up with her partner ‘T’ has been revealed to be an ad for Singaporean telco Circles Life.
The original advertisement accused T of buying her presents with her own credit card, having control issues and not being responsive. The text states “I’m done with constantly giving and never receiving. My friends tell me that I deserve better. I think so too.”
The initial ad was made to appear as though woman was publicly breaking up with her partner (Click to enlarge)
The next day, Circles Life released a branded, edited version of the ad, responding to Charlotte and revealing it to be the true author.
The original text of the ad appeared to be written over with in red pen. T’s name was changed to Telco, Charlotte’s complaints were addressed with statements “We’ll respond to you within seconds”, “We’ll deliver to you same day” and “We have flexible data options”. In the top corner, “Time for and upgrade?” was written.
A branded ad was published a day later, responding to ‘Charlotte’s’ break up message
Delbert Ty, Circles Life head of marketing, said: “We’ve had bad experiences with telcos for so long that many of us feel resigned to the fact that being with a telco means dealing with the terrible service and poor customer experience.
“We wanted to show Australians that it’s as toxic as a relationship and nudge them into taking the step towards being with a telco that will never let you down.”
The campaign was backed by insights from the 2017-18 Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Annual Report that 34.1% of complaints to the ombudsman regarded delays or no action in resolving phone or internet issues, 25.5% were about charges and fees and 12.8% covered delays in connecting and changing providers.
Circles Life launched in Australia in September last year.
