EXCLUSIVE: Dairy cooperative
Murray Goulburn's head of retail marketing, Simon Brady, has left the
company amid the controversy surrounding the Devondale ad
campaign.
Brady, who had been in the role for less than six
months, appeared to have departed his position earlier this month.
From mid-last week until yesterday afternoon, his LinkedIn
profile listed his tenure at Murray Goulburn as
having ended in November 2012. The Murray Goulburn entry on his
profile has now been removed altogether.
Devondale, the
consumer-facing brand for the dairy cooperative, launched a rebrand
two months ago of the logo while an ad campaign was unveiled several
weeks ago.
As reported by rural publication The Weekly Times, farmers belonging to the cooperative were incensed with the campaign. Specifically, they strongly objected to the portrayal of farmers as 'bogans' through the 'Dev and Dale' characters.
The Weekly Times also reported that the campaign has now been scrapped.
It's not clear if Brady's exit was related to the
reaction of the 'Dev and Dale' campaign.
Murray Goulburn manager corporate
affairs Kim Lovely declined to comment on the matter. She said the
company does not comment on the circumstances of its employees.
The
Murray Goulburn Cooperative is owned by 2,500 farming families.
UPDATE: After the original publication of this article, a source suggested to AdNews Brady's departure was a result of a separate matter to the 'Dev and Dale' campaign.
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