You read the title right! A new advertising campaign for Coca-Cola’s new “high end” milk product features naked women wearing nothing but milk, sparking an outcry from consumers around the world.
The Daily Mail is reporting on the new campaign to sell an upscale version of milk known as Fairlife, which contains 50 percent more protein and half the sugar of regular milk. Coca-Cola is hoping to sell the product to health food enthusiasts at twice the price of an average quart of milk.
In order to accomplish this feat, the company is banking on the “sex sells” mantra by featuring naked women wearing only a thin splash of milk. One ad features a woman standing in the famous Marilyn Monroe pose with an uplifted skirt. Slogans include “drink what she’s wearing” or “better milk looks good on you”.
Developed by London photographer Jaroslay Wieczorkiewicz, the Fairlife website claims that “His [Wieczorkiewicz] Milky Pin-Ups collection turns real milk into high fashion to recreate the classic mid-20th century pin-ups of American artists like Gil Elvgren (1914-1980).”
They go on to say: “We knew that our Fairlife purely nutritious milk was going to be a game changer in the milk category and we believed that our unique milk deserved an equally unique marketing campaign when we tested the product six months ago in Denver and Minneapolis.”
The minute the ads hit the market,however, a firestorm erupted on Twitter from people who claimed to be offended by the blatant sexism portrayed in the ads.
For example, one Twitter user named Dan Barker posted: “In case you missed: ads for Coke’s new milk brand show nude women, covered in milk, being weighed. #everydaysexism.”
Rebel Girl UK called the campaign a “Sexist rubbish (trash) throwback advertising from Coca-Cola for milk…keep the 70s in the 70s!”
Rachael, aka @r3431 tweeted: “I was unlikely to buy @CocaCola’s new milk, but I’m definitely #NotBuyingIt with these ads.”
This wasn’t exactly the effect the company wanted to have. As a result, Fairlife told the LA Times it would be rethinking its advertising campaign.
“The feedback that we received from the good folks in Minneapolis and Denver was that while they loved the milk, some people loved the pinup campaign, and others didn’t,” said Fairlife. “So we’ve moved on, and going forward, we’ve got other cool advertisements coming your way.”
The effect this negative response will have on the product remains to be seen. The company is currently selling Fairlife milk in Denver, Minneapolis, and Illinois, and plans to introduce it nationwide in 2015.
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