Challenger brand Oatly has unveiled a new set of creative, including controversial TV ads in the UK, which aims to help kids convince their dads to quit dairy.

Dad recipes, witty replies to neutralise arguments, rhetorical judo and four new spots are among the resources Oatly has produced to help win over dads—a market of 44–75-year-olds who are, according to the brand, the least interested in anything vegan.

“Nice work! You’ve found the ultimate guide for helping the dad in your life stop eating like, um, a dad and make the switch from dairy to plant-based,” Oatly writes on the help-dad.com website.

“Whether your dad just needs some helpful reminders because he already gets that ditching dairy can save the planet loads of carbon emissions, or if he needs more of a total reprogramming because he is pretty much good with watching the planet burn so long as he can do it while eating a double cheeseburger, this guide has you covered.

“To be specific, you’ll find facts, rhetorical manoeuvres, tips, recipes and a bunch of other stuff designed to help you get dad on a more planet-friendly track because clearly, you are the guy’s best hope.”

A major component of Oatly’s new creative is four short spots, which show children discussing the difficulty of getting their dads to stop drinking cow’s milk. However, these have been received with mixed reaction, with some viewers claiming they make light of interventions and alcoholism.

The main offender here is an ad called ‘What have we here’, which reportedly aired over the weekend during an episode of The Voice UK. In the commercial, a dad is seen sneaking into the house in the dead of night with a bottle of milk, only to be caught out by his son.

The dairy and meat industries emit more CO2e than all the world’s planes, trains, cars, boats etc., combined. Need help talking to dad about milk? Go to https://t.co/vqDLHniySQ pic.twitter.com/4HspwIu1ME

— OatlyUK (@OatlyUK) January 16, 2021

“Gross and upsetting ads making light of addiction and alcoholism, turning interventions into moralism and moralism into marketing. Oatly going for PETA’s belt,” one user tweeted.

However, Oatly said this was not its intention with the commercial, responding to that user’s complaint: “We’re not trying to make light of interventions and alcoholism—we’re using the dynamic you’d typically see between parents and their teenagers where it’s the parents that are educating them.

“We wanted to turn these roles around since studies show it’s largely teenagers that are concerned about the climate and how our diet impacts the planet, while it’s men between 44–75 that don’t tend to share the same concern when it comes to their eating habits. Love, Oatly.”

You can check out the rest of Oatly’s new commercials, below.

 

 

Featured image source: YouTube/Oatly