When Brands get it Wrong.
It never ceases to amaze me the way in which brand-consumer relationships continue to play-out in the same way as regular human relationships. This is no-where more apparent than when brands get it wrong.
And there’s no doubt brands do get it wrong from time to time – always have and always will. Brands are run by businesses and businesses are after all run by humans. Not so long ago, the standard approach to a brand being called-out for a poor decision was denial, evasion, cover-up, or plain old bury your head in the sand and wait for the dust to settle.
As consumers we’ve come to expect and demand more of those brands that wish to cozy-up next to us (although interestingly we’ve not increased our expectation of politicians accordingly – but that’s a whole other topic for another time). For the most part, brands are getting with the program, listening to consumers, owning-up to their errors and looking to do the right thing.
From environmental leadership to employment conditions for their workers (direct and third party) to sexism, racism and ageism in advertising, this consumer-led movement is significantly changing the mindset of brands for the better.
Case in point is Brazilian beer brand Skol, last year valued as the most valuable brand in Latin America and now owned by the Carlsberg Group. In a recent campaign called; ‘Reposter’, Skol owned-up to it’s history of using sexually oriented images of women in it’s advertising. The brand briefed six female illustrators with re-interpreting the original posters, looking to re-imagine them as an inclusive, empowering and respectful campaign for today’s consumers.
With this campaign the brand is saying; “These images are part of our past. Times have changed and so have we. This behavior and mindset no longer represents who we are or how we see the world.”
The illustrators who created the amazing work were; Manuela Eichner, Eva Uviedo, Criola, Camila do Rosário, Carol Rossetti, and Elisa Arruda.
“I accepted this project because I think it’s important to deconstruct stereotypes, preconceived notions,” says Criola. “One thing I wanted to do was take the woman away from the role of the person serving the beer,” adds Arruda.
We say “cheers” to Skol and these six illustrators who had the foresight to see the positive role they could play in working with Skol to right the wrongs of their branding past.
Dave Ansett
David is the founder of Truly Deeply, a brand agency with 25 years experience working with brands to position them for growth. His deep expertise is in the creation of high engagement brands that attract the attention of their audience and stand out from their competitors. David has extensive experience working with corporate, retail, food & beverage and entrepreneurial clients. Find out more here
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Pics courtesy Skol.