Woolworths Want You To Make Branded ANZAC Day Profile Pictures. People Are Pretty Pissed.
The Fresh (In Our Memories) Food People.
How will you be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing of 1915? Having a quiet ANZAC Day with friends and family? Going to a dawn service? Heading over to Turkey? Taking part in a branded ad campaign cynically tying the ANZAC commemorations to getting people to buy stuff at Woolworths?
The good people in Woolies Marketing thought the last of those things was something everyone would be A-OK with, hence their brand new ANZAC “tribute” page entitled — I kid you not — Fresh In Our Memories. It even comes with profile picture and cover photo generators that put the Woolworths logo in the corner, so you can share your Fresh Food People ANZAC Memories (copyright Woolworths 2015) on social media! How convenient!
Far be it from me, a mere Junkee writer, to cast judgement on a company’s humble social media campaign to honour our fallen diggers. But Woolies’ attempt to place themselves front-and-centre in a period of national remembrance has hit a bit of an off note with a few people.
Okay, maybe more than a few people. Several people.
Hey @woolworths, this marketing campaign is crass. http://t.co/vNd5DpPWsn pic.twitter.com/roOBk5IbBg
— Matt Burke (@matttburke) April 14, 2015
We’ve hijacked @Woolworths marketing cash-in on Anzac and #Gallipoli100 to show truth of WWI pic.twitter.com/2JS81ob3kW
— The Daily Rupert (@TheMurdochTimes) April 14, 2015
Lest we forget the ex-@woolworths employee who dreamed up the idea of marketing groceries with dead soldiers. pic.twitter.com/T1SdyVysov
— Comrade Weez (@weezmgk) April 14, 2015
Okay, maybe a lot of people.
Is http://t.co/GRiNDc8FdE bad taste?
VOTE IN OUR OFFICIAL WOOLWORTHS FRESH GALI-POLL-I
#brandzacday
— Mikey Nicholson (@Mikey_Nicholson) April 14, 2015
#brandzacday #freshinourmemories Ping @SteeleWars pic.twitter.com/MyhnrlkEgx
— HRH mªdcªtj0 von 2.0 (@madcatjo2point0) April 14, 2015
Gallipoli. A day that Australia went down, down, deeper and down into a hellish battle. #lestweforgetlowestprices #BrandzacDay
— Rachael Lonergan (@RachaelHasIdeas) April 14, 2015
Woolworths have not yet pulled the campaign or issued a response, but you can sure as shit bet someone’s getting a pretty urgent after-work phone call from their boss right now. Lest we forget, Woolworths Marketing Corps. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.