Marmite Advert: Distasteful Animal Rescue Parody?

The new Marmite advert is getting lots of unforeseen publicity which I am sure Unilever are pleased with as they now own the UK company making Marmite. This is a very clever advert. It is amusing. However, it does parody the work of the RSPCA in the UK when carrying out their duties in investigating and recovering neglected pets. The pet carriers used in the film are miniature versions of cat carriers. For me it is too flippant about a serious subject: animal neglect.

Christo LBC
Christo. Early morning weekend presenter could not see what was wrong with this advert.
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

We are, therefore, seeing a advert based on cat and animal cruelty. A lot of people don’t see it that way. I respect their opinions, as usual. The LBC radio show host, Cristo, cannot understand why there have been hundreds of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK.

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I understand why there have been complaints. The advert is making a joke out of animal neglect which is a form of animal cruelty. I would have thought that was obvious, Cristo!

The lack of sensitivity by some people to the poor taste of the advert indicates completely polarised opinions about animals in the UK. Some people are sensitive to animal welfare. They are aware of animal welfare and want to see an improvement.

Others are more human-centric. The world revolves around them and the next buzz they can get from whatever source.

This is a comment on YouTube by one of the less sensitive types:

“People who complain about this advert just demonstrate their pathetic mentality. It is obvious that this advert has nothing to do with animal cruelty…ITS ABOUT MARMITE!!!!!!!!” …..or

Anyone who find this offensive seriously needs to get a life!!

And this is a comment from one of the offended people:

“Shocking! Animal cruelty is nothing to be taken lightly! I can only hope that Marmite realise their mistake and correct it… quickly!”

The majority of the comments on YouTube are for the advert and they criticise people who find it offensive.

This might not be significant because YouTube’s audience tends to be young people who in my view are less likely to be aware of animal cruelty or educated about it.

It is interesting that there are lots of:

Comment removed

Who removes comments on YouTube? It has to be the people who make Marmite. I believe they are removing comments by people who criticise the advert for being in bad taste. That is to be expected. They have left one or two just to try and provide a more realistic profile of comments.

Clearly there are some comments that are very critical of Marmite and the authors use strong language to express their opinion. These comments appear to have been deleted.

My opinion? I like the advert from an aesthetic point of view. I dislike it generally because behind the fun, style and success of this advert, are many neglected animals that have suffered pain and emotional distress, which is the exact opposite to what we are expected to feel when we watch the advert. That has to be distasteful.

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12 thoughts on “Marmite Advert: Distasteful Animal Rescue Parody?”

  1. I have no idea what Marmite is. I’m guessing that it may be some sort of marmalade. In any case, I also find it disgraceful that Unilever would draw any comparison between a product gone bad to something as serious as animal neglect and abuse.

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  2. I don’t like that at all, to me it’s taking the serious subject of animal rescue and using it to catch the public eye in a mocking way, a lot of people watch this sort of animal rescue programme on TV so will I suppose watch spellbound to see what happens as the ad rolls out, well the first time anyway, I sat through most of it once and if I saw it again I think I’d do serious damage to my monitor or TV because it makes me angry. I used to like Marmite on Cream Crackers when I was in my late teens but haven’t had it for years and have no intentions of putting money into Unilever or whoever profits from it in England. The only plus for Marmite is that it is vegetarian (and some say vegan) friendly

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  3. Well who can wonder that Unilever make an advert like this when they test on animals!
    They care nothing for animals only for the profits they will make selling their products to people who don’t give a thought to the suffering caused.
    Obviously someone with a sick mind thought up this parody of the RSPCA investigating cruelty cases, it’s disgusting and wrong and anyone who cares about animals should boycott Unilever and buy alternatives made by kind firms instead, there are plenty nowadays.

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