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Woolworths 'Our Family' ad

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Lexii NSW • Posts: 5

1 11 Dec 2011

Hey everyone! I'm just writing this to start some discussion (and also to let you know my experience) about the latest Christmas Woolworths add. I'm not sure if everyone has seen it but basically it is a family Christmas lunch with a very young girl narrating the scene. Everyone is sitting around a table and she comments on their huge glazed ham saying and i quote "Even Sarah loves our Woolies glazed ham and she's a Vegetarian"....yeah....Well i was INSTANTLY offended, mostly because they had an innocent chicl saying something like that when she probably has no idea what she was saying. So, i e-mailed Woolworths Customer Service and i said that i was not impressed and i was offended and i would appreciate it if they axed the line from the add. i said it was insensitive and that Vegetarians and Vegans are not stupid, we know where that ham comes from and there is NO way we'd ever eat it...EVER! This was there responce:

Dear Alix,

Thankyou for expressing your concerns about our latest My Family TV ad, we�re genuinely sorry if the ad has offended you. We never intended to upset our vegetarian and vegan customers and want to assure you that we respect everyone�s food choices.

Our aim was to talk about the quality of our hams for those customers who do eat meat. We tried to do that in a light-hearted and humorous manner but recognise that approach has caused offense to some of you. We understand that many people on both sides of the debate feel strongly about this issue, but in the interest of a friendly community, we ask that you be respectful of each other�s opinions. Thank you.

Kind Regards,

Woolworths Customer Service

I am confused by this. This makes me even more angry, so i decided to tell people how they have treated me. I'm also going to say that i refuse to shop there, for ANYTHING, ever again....Mainly for the point that just because they make a ton of money doesnt mean they can treat somebody like that, whether they are a customer or not. How are you supposed to retain customers if you tell you supposed customer to "be respectful" of the companies opinion, or in other words "get over it"? I've worked in retaill for 10 years and ive been trained by the best and i would NEVER say that to someone who made a complaint, EVER.
So, make up your own mind about Woolies if you like, but i'd just like to let you all know what kind of company they are, if you didn't know already.

Love Alix xxx

PurpleFae NSW • Posts: 283

2 11 Dec 2011

Typical PR angle. I wouldn't expect them to axe the ad though. The number of stupid ads Woolies and Cooles put out that get aired... Even if they axed it, it has a bit of a viral market happening for it since the Woolies Facebook page went nuts. I also think we'd have more power making parody ads to put out on social media along with the letters/emails people are sending for more of a splash.

But personally, I'm not offended by the ad. It's just a really stupid and lazy created piece of marketing. We have no right to no be offended in the general sense - unless you want to start losing your freedom of speech/expression also.

(though business clearly need to think twice if they offend anyone in any group that gives them any money; see if the risk of pushing them away is worth it. I make the assumption Woolies is fine with this and just assumes we won't stop shopping there over an ad).

These sorts of ads piss me off because on their own, ignorant people do still get confused. I'm more concerned about how others interpret it outside of the animal rights movement. Don't be surprised when a meat eating mum offers their vegan child some ham because the Woolies ad said it was cool.

But I don't watch TV anymore so I am mostly free for video ads.

+ 1

Ashurii SA • Posts: 27

3 11 Dec 2011

First coles comes out with the "because everybody eats meat" ads and now this?
... Maybe they are doing it deliberately. Bad publicity = good publicity sorta thing because if it is causing a stir, it's giving them attention then the next month they will be selling soy milk on special and new flavours of it like coles has done recently.

Mel17 SA • Posts: 98

4 11 Dec 2011

Hey Alix. That evil empire makes me soooo mad. I haven't shopped there for a couple of years now. I wouldn't go there even if I was desperate! The fresh food people, what a load of crap! They are greedy and want to take over everything from supermarkets, liquor stores, hardware and petrol stations. They don't care about anything or anyone. Woollies god is money! I too was outraged when I saw the ad. How low can they go????!!

Cow Hugger SA • Posts: 346

5 11 Dec 2011

i don't watch tv either, so i hadn't seen/heard of it until this post.
if any of you want to see it + can't be bothered turning on the tv and waiting for it to come on
here is a link to it
http://www.woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolworths/FreshFoodIdeas/MyFamily/MyFamilyVideoGallery/#

how does that even make sense?
i'm so very confused...

i don't shop at woolies anyway because they are part of an evil corporation. (i do sometimes go to coles for vegan stuffs like sweet william)

..1 TAS • Posts: 2265

6 11 Dec 2011

Wolf said:

Thanks for the link, I've been hoping to see the ad on tv, because I've been hearing so much about it lately.

Feel free to speak your opinion on their facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/woolworths their page was stacked with angry vegetarians and vegans a few days ago.

xAshlee TAS • Posts: 722

7 11 Dec 2011

hate it.

i mute all the adds these days ......... i HATE ads. theres so many hungry jacks, kfc ads on all the time.

Vegan-Lisa SA • Posts: 164

8 11 Dec 2011

Be respectful of each others opinions?? I don't see them light heartedly offending meat eaters like EVER!! I don't see them advertising their vegan ranges either. Urgh!! Makes me soooo angry!! But good on u for saying something at least. And personally it does offend me and I think it's disrespectful but they know that already when they are planning the ads . Say what they like but I don't feel like they give a crap about vegos and vegans as I'm sure we r a minority in comparison to their huge meat and dairy sales. I do try but will just try much harder to not use these supermarkets from now on I think. Thanks for sharing! Sharing does make a difference! Xo

JayT VIC • Posts: 525

9 11 Dec 2011

A bunch of us went to their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/woolworths and told them how we feel. It's not really going on anymore, but for two or three days it was pretty much Vegan vs Everyone else.

+ 2

Ballpoint SA • Posts: 46

10 11 Dec 2011

When I hear/see supermarket advertising I tune out so I hadn't even noticed this until a friend pointed it out to me this arvo... What the hell..? Clearly if she is eating ham she isn't a vegetarian, if she is a vegetarian and she loves it then they are false advertising by saying ham is a meat free product.

I've been with the company for a number of years now and they keep finding new ways to piss me off, I think this might top them all though. It will be such a great day I walk out after my final shift and the only reason I return is to talk to friends I've made then walk out empty handed and shop else where.

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