Supermarket giant Woolworths has removed its commemorative Anzac Day campaign after the chain experienced social media backlash over its tag-line, “fresh in our memories”.
The campaign encouraged people to go to a special website and then post a photo of a solider who served in World War One. People took issue however with Woolworths keeping its logo on the images, as well as the slogan, “fresh in our memories”.
People took to twitter to express their outrage over the promotion with one user saying: “Linking' fresh' food to the memory of dead soldiers? Pretty tacky to say the least. #freshinourmemories.”
Simon Thomsen, associate editor of Business Insider said: “Today we remember the fallen in the marketing department: the first casualty of Woolies #freshInOurMemories.”
Others started using images of famous Australians and politicians to make fun of the tag-line fresh in our memories.
Woolworths has taken down the campaign as well as the corresponding website and released a statement on its Facebook page at 11pm last night. It read: “The Fresh in Our Memories website has been taken down this evening. The site was developed to give our staff and customers a place to put their stories to mark the Centenary of ANZAC.”
“We regret that our branding on the picture generator has caused offence, this was clearly never our intention. Like many heritage Australian companies, we were marking our respect for ANZAC and our veterans.”
“We continue to be proud supporters of the RSL and Camp Gallipoli in this important year and look forward to working with them into the future.”
The centenary has sparked a raft of events, programming and marketing aligning but have brands and media outlets gone too far with Anzac day? Take our poll here: http://poll.fm/58nj4
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.