Welcome to your latest All in Good Taste, the monthly round up of PR gold stars and faux pas.
Last month, PR was briefly redefined as ‘Piers’s Reactions’, but this month has been about ‘Leeds generation’ as Pizza Hut just about clings on to a bandwagon by serving up ‘Spygate’ Championship banter by the slice.
Elsewhere, Iceland’s palm oil palaver raises eyebrows over its planet friendly pledge, and M&S’s Valentine’s Day ‘Love Sausage’ leaves a sniggering nation seriously considering vegetarianism.
But it’s not all doom and gloom in the ad world. In their latest effort to tackle childhood obesity, ITV and Veg Power’s latest ad humorously villainises veg so kids ‘defeat’ their five a day
Banter by the slice
Joining the ‘Spygate’ debate about Leeds United’s snoop on Derby City’s training session, Pizza Hut took to Twitter to serve up Championship banter by the slice. It could have gone really badly but it managed to salvage it with some quick wit and half decent comebacks.
Face palm moments
Since promising to remove palm oil from all own-brand products by the end of 2018, Iceland was found to still be selling products containing the stuff. Apparently just a technical hitch, they clearly have their work cut out, with the news hitting just weeks after the company’s infamous orangutan Christmas ad was banned.
“Many own-brand products on Iceland’s website appear with a “no palm oil” logo, while others – many of which do not mention palm oil in the ingredients – do not have the logo attached, leading to scepticism among some consumers, while others praised the brand for making an effort.”
Wurst dates
Can you think of anything more romantic than ‘saying it with a sausage’? Well, apparently M&S can’t. In an offputting attempt to jump on the Valentine’s Day bandwagon, the retail giant’s ‘Love Sausage’ caused an innuendo fuelled Twitter storm of the wurst kind.
Villainous veg
What to do when your kids won’t eat their five a day? Make veggies evil, of course. Veg Power and ITV have taken an unconventional approach in their latest ‘Eat Them to Defeat Them’ campaign ad, where sinister sprouts and creepy cauliflower descend upon an army of fearless kids.
