Brands often shift their marketing to be on the right side of what’s trending to appear to be current and relevant to what their target audience is thinking about now. Coming out on the side of what to do during the pandemic appeared to be a pretty safe choice, and many brands got into that game.
But now the game is a bit different, and brands are more prone to make a move that will be seen as the wrong one by their target market.
The outrage over the death of George Floyd due to a chokehold by police has supplanted COVID-19 as the cause célèbre. Many brands have sent out emails to take a stand on racism or made a show of participation by not going on social media channels as usual for Black Out Tuesday.
What have toys got to do with it?
On Wednesday, LEGO posted this tweet:
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) June 3, 2020
The reaction to this tweet was somewhat mixed, though much more positive than negative, as you can tell from the huge number of likes.
However, what LEGO did not say here is that behind the scenes it told sellers not to market certain sets, particularly those featuring police figures. This move appears to have backfired as you can see from the brand’s having to clarify its position and the responses to its current pinned tweet:.
We’ve seen incorrect reports saying we’ve removed some LEGO sets from sale. To be clear, that is not the case and reports otherwise are false. Our intention was to temporarily pause digital advertising in response to events in the US. We hope this clears things up. ♥️
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) June 4, 2020
While the tweet is meant to clarify, it’s written in rather vague terms, as the brand attempts to not antagonize either side in the police debate. However, the only thing that is clarified is that the brand has managed to alienate people despite its intentions.
The responses show that this is either too little or too much. Some say that the brand is lying because they saw that they are stopping the police sets from hitting the market and not just curtailing their advertising. Those people, as well as many others, declare they will never buy another LEGO set.
A smaller percentage applaud the move to remove police sets permanently. The smallest percentage of all actually read what the company said and respond accordingly, whether they say they are relieved or disappointed to see the report of the removal is false.
What happened here is that what LEGO did is not enough to satisfy the people who want the police sets removed but just enough to annoy those who feel that removing the marketing is an affront to the people in that profession.
The moral of the story is: brands should not rush in where angels fear to tread on sensitive topics. Particularly when they may not be accounting for their customer base’s own strong views on the issue.