It’s time for another look at the good and bad PR campaigns from last month. You can find the roundup of February’s campaigns here. Without further ado, we’ll get straight into the campaigns that had us applauding throughout the month of March, and the ones that had us shaking our heads…
Waitrose ditches the plastic
Retail giant Waitrose has decided to ban any magazines that feature a free plastic toy across their stores. This strong move was highly rewarded and applauded across social and it was also picked up by massive news sites like the BBC and Sky News. Commenting on the move, they have said they are ‘urging publishers to replace “pointless plastic” with sustainable alternatives.’
It’s really great to see big brands doing their bit to be more environmentally friendly. Sustainability is always a popular topic in the news agenda, so it’s a win-win by Waitrose!
ALDI & BrewDog kiss and make up
Rewind back to 2020 when Aldi was accused by BrewDog of creating a rip-off of one of its IPA products. The brewery and pub chain reacted by making an IPA beer called “Ald IPA” – get it? What initially started as a bit of a social media stunt has turned into a great (and slightly unlikely!) partnership.
The two brands have now made up and have actually joined forces. The retailer is now stocking the ‘ALD IPA’ product in its German stores, with the extra bonus that for every case sold a tree will be planted. A genius move on both parts!
We would have gone with ALD IPA, send us a crate and we’ll talk? https://t.co/seFaTVmRlv
— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) August 20, 2020
P&O Cruises – no vaccine, no cruise
March saw P&O cruises release a headline-grabbing story stating that “every passenger needs to have had the COVID vaccine” before embarking on one of its 2021 cruises.
They announced that if you were wanting to book onto one of its departures from Southampton between June and September, you would need to have had both vaccines and be able to provide proof of this.
Unvaccinated passengers don’t need to worry though, all other P&O cruises will operate as normal. This is a smart move on the cruise companies behalf as it keeps both passengers happy. Those fully vaccinated and not wanting to mix with those who aren’t can have their own cruise and those not vaccinated still get a holiday, win-win!
Ant Middleton’s off-screen conduct
Ant Middleton very publicly fell out with Channel 4 and was dropped from the programme SAS: Who Dares Wins last month after some controversial comments around COVID-19 and BLM.
The channel that prides itself on inclusion and diversity said that its “views and values are not aligned” with Middleton’s. Middleton went on to say that “life can be brutal” in a rather lengthy Instagram post. It’s never a great idea to get into a public battle by taking to social media – sometimes things are best left unsaid…
A Royal ruckus
We simply can’t talk about March without bringing up that Oprah interview… We don’t even need to mention their names for you to know who and what we’re talking about!
The two-hour-long conversation with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle must have left the Royal Family’s PR team shaking in their boots. The couple dropped the massive revelation that one of the family members had questioned Archie’s skin colour – which sent shockwaves through, not only the UK but the world. Yikes – a total PR nightmare!
The Royal Family’s response to this? To announce that the Queen was saddened by the things discussed in the interview and that any comments about race would be talked about privately as a family. We’d love to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation…
Piers’ swift exit
We find it hard to believe that there’s one person in UK that hasn’t watched the video of Piers Morgan storming off the set of Good Morning Britain (GMB). But in case you missed it – the morning after Harry and Meghan’s interview, Piers stormed off set and announced he was quitting. This came after co-host Alex Beresford criticised his continuous trash talk of the Duchess of Sussex.
The comment led to over 40,000 OFCOM complaints and the inevitable removal of Piers as a GMB host. He’s always been controversial; we’ll give him that… But it certainly wasn’t the best PR he could have given himself.
At Prohibition, we work with a range of brands across all sectors, B2B and B2C, to create innovative PR campaigns that deliver real ROI and help meet business goals. Get in touch with us today to find out how we could support you with your Public Relations. Drop us an email: hello@prohibitionpr.co.uk or give us a bell on 0113 430 4160.
