ATLANTA -- "Some people loved the pinup campaign, and others didn’t." With that, Coca-Cola Co. will take a new approach to marketing its new, high-end fairlife milk brand before launching it nationwide.
Fairlife was put into test markets in Minneapolis and Denver this past spring with a marketing campaign that featured "glamorous women in pinup poses dressed only in milk" and slogans such as "Drink what she's wearing," according to a February press release.
Consumers in the test markets "l-o-v-e-d the milk," the company said, but the pinup campaign was dubbed sexist and became the subject of national debate, including a segment on the Today show this week. (See video below.)
The company now is pulling the campaign.
"The pinups advertising may have been eye-catching, but we’re taking a totally new approach," the company stated on its fairlife website. "That campaign was retired in June, and we’re super excited about what’s to come."
Fairlife Purely Nutritious milk has 50% more natural protein and calcium and half the sugars of ordinary milk, according to the company, while being real milk with no protein powders added.
"We knew that our fairlife purely nutritious milk was going to be a game changer in the milk category, and we believed that our unique milk deserved an equally unique marketing campaign when we tested the product six months ago in Denver and Minneapolis," the company said, noting the campaign was shot by London-based photographer Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz with the goal of turning "real milk into high fashion." The photos were "to recreate the classic mid-20th century pinups of American artists like Gil Elvgren (1914-1980). Elvgren’s popular art advertised wholesome all-American brands, featured in publications like the Saturday Evening Post and Good Housekeeping."
Following the backlash, however, the company stated, "We’ve moved on, and going forward we’ve got other cool advertisements coming your way."
Fairlife is slated to hit store shelves nationally in 2015.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.