Beverage giant PepsiCo has pulled the plug on an advertisement for a low-cal cola that depicted a “lonely calorie” graphically committing suicide
Twitterati extract online apology for ‘insensitive’ ad
HONG KONG: Beverage giant PepsiCo has pulled the plug on an advertisement for a low-cal cola that depicted a “lonely calorie” graphically committing suicide, and has publicly apologised on the social network group Twitter to activists and consumers who were offended by the ‘insensitive’ ad.
The episode, which offers a case study on how opinions on social media sites can humble even well-established brands when they slip up, also shows up that geographical boundaries don’t count for much in the age of Internet word-of-mouth publicity that cuts across borders.
The print ad for Pepsi Max, a one-calorie cola, ran just once, in a lifestyle magazine in Germany; it depicted a cartoon character — a “Lonely Calorie” — driven by loneliness to attempt suicide in a variety of graphic ways. The creative agency BBDO was evidently attempting some over-the-top humour, and securied PepsiCo’s approval, but the intended humour was entirely lost on bloggers and Twitter users, who criticised it for its lack of sensitivity.
One of the most forceful critics was Christine Lu, a suicide prevention activist from Montebello (California), who began posting on the mini-blogging service Twitter with her objections to the ad. “My sister committed suicide in 2004,” Lu told DNA. “I’ve spent four years trying to cope with it, making sense of why it happened and helping raise awareness so others can avoid the same situation.”
Lu points out that suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15-to-24-year-olds in the US, which is Pepsi’s target market. “Periods of economic recession see a spike in the rates of suicide, and we are in a recession. So how irresponsible is it for a global brand to run such an ad?” Suicide, she adds, has no geographical boundaries either, “and Pepsi must realise that in the age of social media, there are no ‘niche’ markets.”
Lu’s online voice was amplified by the fact that she has over 4,370 “followers” around the world tracking her posts, and her ‘tweets’, drawing on her poignant recollection of her sister’s loss, triggered many more critical responses. “I also received a lot of private messages and Facebook e-mails from people thanking me for speaking up because they too lost a loved one to suicide,” she says.
The outpouring of online criticism in the echo chamber of the Twitter world was evidently loud enough to reach PepsiCo officials’ ears. Senior communications manager Huw Gilbert and Director of social media B. Bonin Bough got onto Twitter and sent out personal apologies to Lu and other Twitter users. “We agree this creative is totally inappropriate,” Gilbert said in a Tweet to Lu. “We apologize; please know it won’t run again.” Bough, in his post to Lu, said his best friend had committed suicide, and the subject was “very close to my heart”. He too offered his “deepest apologies”.
Lu acknowledges that Bough and Gilbert had shown “guts to get on Twitter on behalf of Pepsi and give us an update,” but she isn’t entirely mollified by the apology. “The apology seems intended to convey that Pepsi is social-media-savvy in responding to a PR crisis, but it doesn’t explain why the ad was allowed to run in the first place…
Someone in the company approved a disgusting ad that looks to sell soda by showing violent acts of suicide. They must make sure they don’t pull this kind of stunt again.”
venky@dnaindia.net
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