Oreo Is Brilliant, More Companies Should Follow Suit
June 27, 2012 
Author 
In 
Oreo recent posted the above image to their social channels in celebration of Pride Day. A brilliant move by itself as it’s extremely social to support basic human rights and equality.
What happened next is even better for the brand. The image caused a plethora of utterly shocking and hate-filled comments left by some very confused individuals. You can view them here, but you’ve been warned. Why is this good? The uproar caused more than 117 stories about Oreo, much of it in tier-1 publications:
Not only did this simple image stir media exposure and thousands of discussions across the web from those who normally don’t talk about Oreo, but the brand showed themselves to be the good guys here supporting a group that continues to lack equality in society.
My employer openly supports equality as well (as do many companies in Silicon Valley). But it is great to see traditional brands finally getting on board.
As marketers we need to encourage more of this. It’s not just good marketing, it’s the right thing to do.
Sonia Simone replied | Jun 27, 2012 (1 comment)
Thanks for this, Adam! I was curious the day the image posted, so from time to time throughout the day I dipped into the FB comments. What’s not being widely reported is a) they ran around 10:1 positive — many, many more supportive comments than negative ones, and most of the support coming from people who identified as straight, and b) If you clicked through to the negative comments, quite a few were from suspicious-looking accounts — no friends, no information filled in, which suggests that some groups may have been doing some astroturfing.
I think this was a very smart move for Kraft/Nabisco. They read the tide correctly (I believe) and they made a statement at a moment when they still looked “brave” and could generate the coverage you mention here.
My guess is they’ve been watching the reaction to J.C.Penney.
Brian Zarbock replied | Jun 27, 2012 (1 comment)
This was amazing to see on both a professional and personal level. You know you’ve hit it big when George Takei posts a story about it on his facebook (over 2 million likes)
Stuart Miles replied | Jun 28, 2012 (1 comment)
Superb advertising, and yes more marketing should be crossing the ‘boundaries’ so this is the norm.
Melonie Dodaro replied | Jun 28, 2012 (9 comments)
This is amazing! And this is a move that one would not expect from the makers of Oreo. But they had the courage and took the first opportunity to tell the world what they believe in. A real courageous move that paid off!
Barbara McKinney replied | Jul 2, 2012 (1 comment)
Such an audacious move coming from a big brand. They’re not scared of what are the possible outcome of their post. Well this is there own point of view which is i think many would agree with this stand if equality is the reason.
Robert replied | Jul 4, 2012 (1 comment)
A single picture created enough of a ruckus that it took on a life of its own.
Maybe we should take a page out of Oreo’s playbook.
Benjamin Cook replied | Jul 5, 2012 (3 comments)
The question that I have is whether this is a net positive for Oreo in terms of brand lift. After all there certainly are people on both sides of this issue. While those in favor of gay rights may be more supportive of Oreo and buy more cookies, the flip side to this are all the detractors that have given negative feedback on the social web. Some people take issue with brands being too political. I suppose Oreo did the math to determine that it would ultimately increase profits. If this is the case it brings into question the genuineness of Oreo’s messaging.
Evgenia Grinblo replied | Jul 18, 2012 (1 comment)
Your title is brilliant – couldn’t agree more! :)
Siddhi Panchal replied | Jul 19, 2012 (1 comment)
Yup I saw what a buzz Oreo created in the market, it was in news for a long time. Maybe this is what we call creative advertising.
Bre Fowler replied | Jul 19, 2012 (2 comments)
Amen to that! I LOVED their Pride ad! From a marketing perspective, it’s genius. And from a consumer perspective, a brand that is willing to take a risk and declare their support for equality gains a massive amount of respect and support in return from me.
SteelToad replied | Jul 19, 2012 (1 comment)
What’s wrong with our society when random people will send you hate mail just because you’re willing to say ‘ I dont hate the people you hate ‘