Good and Bad PR: Up-to-date Oreos, outdated Card Factory

Good PR

If you ask me, Oreo cookies don’t need changing. The bog-standard ones are simply delicious. However, there’s no denying that the recent #MyOreoCreation Twitter campaign was a pretty cool move. Creators Nabisco took to the Oreo Twitter account and asked the public to suggest weird and wonderful flavour combinations and creations.

Fans have until 14 July to submit their suggestions and certain ones have already been handpicked to turn into one-off real-life Oreo creations which were then posted to the people who came up with the idea.

Those who were lucky enough to have their ideas created and sent to them were quick to share the images of their surprise package on social media, which has led to the campaign getting even more exposure; adding to coverage on the likes of the Metro

Flavours such as Glazed Donut, Summer Beach Party, Kettle Corn and even Unicorn were amongst the ones people suggested and Oreo went ahead and made for them. What a great stunt idea!

Bad PR

Budget greetings card retailer Card Factory has received some bad press this week after a shopper from Wakefield visited the store in the White Rose Centre in Leeds and was finding it difficult to find any cards for same-sex weddings.

41-year-old Gaynor Daws approached a sales assistant to ask where to find the cards, at which point the employee apparently went to retrieve some from the store room. When questioning why they weren’t out on the shelves with the other wedding cards, the member of staff apparently told Gaynor that they’d received complaints from people who didn’t agree with same-sex marriage, so they had to be kept in the back.

She took to Twitter to vent about this experience and told Card Factory to “drag” itself “into 2017”.

The Mail Online has covered the story, which really frames the Card Factory in a terrible light. It’s not clear what branches these complaints have been made in and how many keep their same-sex marriage cards out the back hidden from view, but Card Factory has said in a statement that it is committed to “equality” and is sorry for any “confusion”.

To add insult to injury, Gaynor told how she’d already bought a card from Clinton’s for the wedding (which was on display just like the rest of the cards) but only went to the Card Factory to get one for her two sons to send to the happy couple. So, Clinton’s has come up looking pretty good in all of this and Card Factory even worse!

Written by Shannon Peerless, 10 Yetis @ShazzaYeti on Twitter
Seen any good or bad PR lately? You know what to do @10Yetis on Twitter or andy@10Yetis.co.uk on email