How Oreo had top publications eating out of its hand with TOI spoof ad
Mondelez replicated Times of India's April 2011 front page where India's World Cup win and 2G scam were big news, and several top publications fell for the ruse
Oreo’s front page ad on TOI’s front page on Dussehra (Wednesday) not only caught people’s eye confusing them but also fooled leading media houses into falling for it. Numerous publications like Business Standard, Deccan Herald and IANS put out stories based on the advertorial.
Nevertheless, the ad and its aftermath resulted in a massive free promotion for Mondelez, in a way the brand leaders would not have imagined.
The ad was actually the replica of the TOI’s April 3, 2011 edition with the lead story detailing India’s victory against Sri Lanka. The second big story on the page was CBI naming then Union Minister A Raja and others in the 2G scam.
Dear @ians_india, you have gone ahead and written an entire copy based on a TOI front page advertorial that republished April 3, 2011 page 1 stories. @bsindia @DeccanHerald please note that these stories are on your site like many others. pic.twitter.com/0euTexjwTD
— Jency Jacob (@jencyjac) October 5, 2022
@dna, your web team edited the story and still missed it? pic.twitter.com/90hCwDr79u
— Jency Jacob (@jencyjac) October 5, 2022
.@ZeeNewsEnglish, your team added pointers to the story and still missed that this is an old story? pic.twitter.com/b2bcMDbusP
— Jency Jacob (@jencyjac) October 5, 2022
Apart from the decade-old content, the page had two more clues to say that the page was fake-It has clearly mentioned the date 3 April 2011 and Consumer Connect Initiative tag printed below the masthead.
Moreover, the second page of the advertorial itself had a declaration by the brand-“Today’s front is not a mistake. TOI is joining Oreo to #BringBack2011 to help Team India bring back the Cup. Oreo is launching itself again in 2022 because when it launched in 2011, Team India won,” the ad stated.
Apart from this declaration, page2 carried a big picture of Anil Viswanathan, CMO, Mondelez India along with his interview with Sunainika Singh, director, of Biscuits and Bakes, Mondelez India.
The Q&A was actually an explainer in which the brand highlighted that Oreo had launched in 2011 and India won the cup that very year it wanted to do a repeat now ahead of the ICC T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup starting from 16 October.
