30 APR 2021
5 MIN READ

Media is used in a myriad of ways in order to try to get a specific response from a targeted group of people – from driving purchase intent to prompting debate, there is always a desired outcome.
But despite best efforts, the reality can be somewhat unexpected. The second a campaign is put in front of a real-life audience the days, weeks and months of planning can go up in smoke as the first tweet rings out across the Socialsphere, and reality crashes down.
This week we are looking at responses to two media campaigns, as well as a public response that is trying to reshape media itself.
Social Media Boycott
Clubs from the Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship have joined forces to condemn abuse and discrimination with a four-day boycott of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram starting on 30th April. The decision to leave social media across a full fixture programme in both men’s and women’s game has been made to put pressure on social media companies to do more to eradicate online hate and raise awareness of the abuse being suffered by players on these platforms. As we have recently seen how powerful it can be when people are united for English football, the Premier League is using their power to make a significant change and tackle abuse on the biggest social media platforms.
Formerly known as...
When looking to rebrand themselves, Standard Life Aberdeen had likely never expected the deluge of criticism that followed the announcement of their new name – Abrdn. The original aim of the name reflecting a “modern, agile, digitally enabled brand” was quickly lost, with comparisons to Grindr and confusion as to how to pronounce it, the name change has done more to prompt discussion around the use of language than it has to raise awareness of the artist formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen. Only time will tell if the new name works, for now, Abrdn can only hope that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
"Another consonant please Rachel..." #abrdn pic.twitter.com/7CotVUngvO
— PD Colinton (@PDColinton) April 26, 2021
“ we’ve done focus groups , the feedback has been VERY positive”#abrdn pic.twitter.com/Buzb2OtEA9
— London Money (@LondonMoneyFS) April 26, 2021
Scone Viral
It’s
a tale as old as time itself, the great cream and jam (or jam and cream) scone
debate continues. Sainsbury’s shoppers in Cornwall threatened to boycott the
supermarket over its jam and cream scone imagery used one of its cafes, which
showed the jam on top of the cream. One Twitter user demanded an answer to how
this could happen in a Cornish store, to which Sainsbury's responded: “an
imposter! Which store did you see this, please? We’ll have a word with them
about this blasphemy.” For the record, MediaCom Edinburgh firmly agrees that jam
should go on first. The jam is too messy to spread on top of the cream and bleeds
into it, while the cream sits nice and neatly on top of the jam – we hope that
settles it.
Ahem... @sainsburys
— Dawn French 💙🔴 (@Dawn_French) April 26, 2021
I should bleddy well think so... Lookin forward to our free ‘apology scones’ Thats the custom down yer... Sainsbury's says sorry for Cornish cream tea scone 'blasphemy' https://t.co/Fo9pIuhO1l
Sorry @Dawn_French, we’ve fixed this for you! Cream on top of jam. Everything scone be alright.🙌 https://t.co/XE7UW4NGEV pic.twitter.com/ksns2ktVUV
— Sainsbury's (@sainsburys) April 27, 2021
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