Following a sharp rebuff of Nestlé by the undisputed top female blogger in Spain Fatima Lopez @fmlopez48 , there's been an opportunity to rethink how we all need to be thinking (and talking) about our Mothers.
The controversy issued from email, twitter, and YouTube advertising campaigns in the run up to the Spanish Mother's Day Event celebrations this coming weekend urging people to tell their mothers something. It includes personalised emails sent to prospects, including Ms Lopez. She therefore objected to Nestlé's lack of research which resulted in what many perceive as insensitive marketing.
This is a flawed and sort sighted strategy at best. This event is a difficult time of remembrance for all people who have lost (or simply lost contact with) their mothers.
This campaign also represents for many a commoditization of the most fundamental of human relationships. Not only are our lives basically designed for production, for proforma, to enhance others' wealth, including giant multinationals such as Nestlé, but now we're being instructed about how to behave towards our own mothers?
This could be perceived by many as further evidence of advertisers' attempts to socially condition us to foster particular values and demonstrate "love" in a particularly contrived way.
Effectively, there's an attempt to imbue the festival with clear, marketable and sensory cues for consumers to buy into purchasing symbols and behaviours.
It can't possibly be that they've harnessed our spending habits and now they want our feelings, can it?
When Nestlé finally withdraw this ridiculous twitter campaign using the misguided hashtag "#MamaQuieroDecirte" (literally "Mamma I want to say to you.") it'll be a victory for commonsense and they'll have realised that some people simply cannot anymore tell their mothers such deep sentiments.
As Fatima Lopez urges that before launching such misguided email, twitter and YouTube campaigns, Nestlé employ "social media Intelligence" to better research their customer to find out if their mothers are dead or not. Rightfully, the call is for common sense, because as Ms Lopez suggests, many are left with hole in their heart at this time of year.
I think Fatima Lopez isn't the only person who's tired of cynically and insensitively being told what to think, how to feel and how to behave in the name of big business profits. She just says it better than all the consumers her point of view represents.
Check out the Spanish blogpost by Fatima Lopez :
Spanish Mother's Day controversy due to marketing campaign by #nestle - questioned here by top blogger @fmlopez48 http://t.co/W6ddsbZDJ4
What do you think about this?
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