Sainsbury’s manager slams ‘racist’ social media Christmas ad backlash
Earlier this month, we reported that Sainsbury’s had divided opinion on social media in relation to a Christmas ad featuring an all black family.
Many in the Twitterverse accused the grocery giant of virtue signalling, which led to The Daily Mail picking up on calls to boycott Sainsbury’s.
This did not sit well with Connie Wheatley, Marketing Propositions Manager at Sainsbury’s Argos.
“The Daily Mail should be ashamed of publishing an article such as this. You have strayed as far away from the real story here as possible. The story is not that we have been accused by our customers as being not inclusive,” she said in a LinkedIn post.
She claimed that the retailer had received “racist, ignorant and offensive comments” from social media users about the first of three Christmas adverts. Many of these users were not even customers, she added. “That I believe is the story.”
“If you are going to report on something, then please ensure you are reporting on the real issue that is plain and clear: that there are people in and amongst our British population who hide behind the walls of social media to express their ignorant and racist views, about a Christmas advert,” Wheatley continued.
She said that she was immensely proud of the 2020 campaign. “Our adverts are about the nostalgia of Christmas, and we aim to represent a modern British population throughout all of our advertising.”
Social success
The LinkedIn post has received over 70,000 views, thousands of re-shares and hundreds of comments.
“Thank you everyone for your thoughts and support. I didn’t expect this post to receive so many responses, it was a Monday morning rant I had last week as I had been struggling to come to terms with the media’s reactions from the weekend - a rant I am glad I decided to publish on LinkedIn,” Wheatley commented.
“My only issue is that this will have added to the views of this Daily Mail article. You win some, you lose some.”
She concluded: “It’s important to educate yourself and reading this article will show you how the media does not accurately depict the issues our country still has with racism being prevalent within our society, and how social media is aiding a vocal minority to project their ignorant views.”
