Mortein has put an early end to its “Who will save Louie the Fly?” campaign, following a negative PR storm on the brand's Facebook page.
People started lambasting the Reckitt Benckiser-owned brand on its Facebook page after the company revealed yesterday that it would be shutting down one of its Sydney factories and slashing 190 local jobs.
Following hundreds of thousands of angry comments, the brand put an early end to the campaign, which was developed by Euro RSCG.
A statement, written in the voice of the fictional Louise the Fly character, was released on the Facebook page earlier today.
“You may have seen the announcement by the owners of Mortein, Reckitt Benckiser, about the planned closure of manufacturing in Australia. Some of you have commented on this page and your frustrations have been heard. Out of respect for the current situation I have been told that my campaign has ended. Public voting to date and online sentiment have clearly demonstrated your support for me – there’s no need to vote any further. I want to thank you all for your messages.”
One irate fan wrote on the wall: “I won't be buying Mortein products any more, I can't believe your selling out what a load of crap, what you gain {profit wise} from sending OUR jobs over seas you will loose [sic] from those who refuse to buy from your company. In the end you loose [sic], I hope you enjoy watching your profit margins plummet as your company fails.”
Another said: “What was this all just a big joke to you guys? This is just big slap in the face to all Australian? Big publicity stunt, yeh, very funny. Let's hit the campaign trail and start this FB page just to suck people in, try and gain larger sales so you can get lots more money selling the company off shore? So much for buy Australian, what about the Australian workers? Do you guy's even care?”
Last year, Mortein announced that it would be killing off the decades old advertising character Louie the Fly, only to later launch a campaign asking the public whether or not he should be killed off. Many in the industry saw the move as a blatant PR stunt.
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