A biscuit advertisement printed 13 years ago has come back to haunt Arnott’s after it appeared online this week and caused a fury.
The advertisement for the fruit-filled biscuit Snack Right Fruit Slice, takes up an entire page of a magazine that someone dug up, photographed, and posted on Facebook.
The advertisement — which is understood to have run in a New Idea magazine in New Zealand in 2005 — features two pairs of pale pink underwear, hanging from a clothesline, one small and one slightly larger.
The larger pair of frilly undies is captioned, “SNACK WRONG”, while the smaller sized undies are captioned, “SNACK RIGHT”.
Beneath the two pairs is a packet of Snack Right Fruit Slice with the slogan: “The healthier biscuit made with delicious fruit.”
The post on the Nope Sisters Facebook page slammed the food giant for “size shaming marketing” and said the company was attempting to humiliate women of different sizes into purchasing their product.
“This size shaming marketing for Arnott’s Biscuits Limited in a mag is ABSOLUTELY WRONG,” the post read. “How dare they try to sell high sugar biscuits in this disgraceful way.”
The post also accused Arnott’s of targeting women who wear “pink frilly undies as well, just to really ensure a MASSIVE marketing FAIL”.
“When will they get it? That any size is right for you, as long as you are healthy and happy.”
Nope Sisters called on people to boycott Arnott’s and not eat its products “ever again”.
But some attempted to keep a level head, reminding people the advertisement was more than a decade old and that dredging up old mistakes wasn’t productive.
“I don’t believe in body shaming … but I also don’t believe in company shaming like this, especially on something 13-years-old. That’s quite rough,” one woman said.
“It’s as if companies can’t start somewhere, and evolve.”
Another commenter said there were “worse things in life than an ad saying snacking on healthier biscuits equates to smaller undies”.
An Arnott’s spokeswoman told news.com.au the old campaign was only run in New Zealand but its contents were “in poor taste and does not reflect Arnott’s brand values”.
“While this advertisement was printed in 2005, it should not have run in the first place and we apologise for any offence cause,” the spokeswoman said.
“Arnott’s is committed to conducting business in a manner that is respectful and inclusive of everyone.”
The company also tweeted its statement in response to criticism online.
The company’s response did little to quell the outrage to the Nope Sister’s post, which attracted hundreds of likes and comments.
Many described the old advertisement as “tone deaf” and “grim on so many levels”.
One woman said she was “in a rage” when she saw the advertisement.
“I don’t think it matters if this ad is 5 or 10 years old, the fact they did it and thought it was OK is terrible,” she wrote.
Nope Sisters Clothing Facebook page and founder Brittany Cosgrove told The New Zealand Herald she was disgusted when she saw the ad but was relieved it was from 2005.
“I am pretty stoked that it’s not from this year. I mean it just goes to show the marketing that was going on in 2005 and how much we’ve changed, hopefully,” she told the publication.
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