Save 50% on a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Ends Dec 5.
It didn’t take long for the Internet to reinterpret Coca-Cola’s new advertising campaign.
Last week, the brand ditched “Open Happiness,” its 7-year-old slogan, for the fresher “Taste the Feeling” as part of a branding initiative to unify its dozens of drinks with one slogan. Coca-Cola explained that the new slogan “puts the focus back on the product.”
Coca-Cola also promoted the slogan with a GIF maker that lets people add a feeling overlaid on top of a massive GIF created by Coke. Tumblr users wasted to no time hijacking the GIF maker, as noticed by the Daily Dot. A scroll through the #Coca-Cola tag on Tumblr reveals GIFs that the brand probably wasn’t expecting:
The lesson here is to never let the Internet customize anything because you’ll always end up with a poop joke. Coca-Cola hasn’t returned a request for comment.
Update: Coca-Cola responded with this comment: “Our intention is to invite people to share their feelings in fun and uplifting ways as they discover our new ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign. While the vast majority have used ‘GIF The Feeling’ in positive ways, it’s unfortunate to see that some people have chosen to use our campaign to do just the opposite.”
More in Marketing
Future of Marketing Briefing: The tells and flops that will define Omnicom-IPG mega holdco
The real story will sit in how this newly fused entity behaves — whether it breaks from the patterns that defined both parents or simply scales them.
In Graphic Detail: CMOs at a crossroads of power and proof
CMOs are closing out another year defined by churn and shifting ground.
As Black Friday nears, fake apologies from brands are all over Instagram
Brands have taken to social media in advance of Bliack Friday to ask followers for forgiveness. The catch: They’re apologizing for their products being too good.