Kraft’s ‘Send Noods’ Campaign Gets Sent Back
Published on October 19, 2020, at 8:30 p.m.
by Tess Hensley.
I can picture it now: There’s a meeting at Kraft discussing campaigns for National Noodle Day. Someone makes a joke under their breath, “Send Noods. You know, like send nudes, but noodles.” Unfortunately, the joke doesn’t stay at the decision table.
Kraft pushed forward with the campaign and even released a blurred-out photo of its Mac & Cheese in a bowl. It was soon met with heavy backlash in the comment section. Since National Noodle Day, the campaign’s website EnjoyNoods.com has been taken down as well as all related social media posts. The goal was for the first 7,000 consumers using the hashtag #SendNoods to be eligible to have Kraft send a box of Mac & Cheese to friends and family.
Lynne Galia, a Kraft Heinz spokesperson, told BuzzFeed News that the campaign was intended to “provide comfort” and “make (people) smile.” Regardless of the negative response, Galia told Buzzfeed, “The social promotion resulted in over 20,000 consumers across the country receiving boxes of America’s favorite Kraft Mac and Cheese. We appreciate all the feedback we’ve received.”
One audience with political backgrounds provided unexpected feedback, commenting with the hashtag #SaveTheChildren, which was once a real initiative for anti-child trafficking that has since been hijacked by QAnon groups.
The Kraft brand relies too heavily on children and families for this messaging to work efficiently. While adults and college students are part of its market, the branding is largely focused on children. Children are shown in almost all of its Instagram pictures, as well as the page’s highlights. For the majority of this campaign’s short life, most of the posts were shared on that same platform. Of course, the moms responded to the posts almost instantly.
Five years ago, this jokey campaign might have worked. Today, with sex trafficking being such a prevalent issue as well as the upcoming election, this campaign doesn’t pass in 2020’s climate. If anything, a lot of people felt it was tone-deaf.
As someone who enjoys humor, puns and all things giggle-worthy, I hate to advise public relations professionals that they can’t be funny in campaigns. But today, with so much suffering and anguish in the world, your jokes have to pass for everyone. They have to be worth the risk. This one simply wasn’t.
