Hellmann’s will donate food for every spoiled turnip they get. Thoughts?

[Underneath The Stars]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1293577991205748736

i saw this on twitter & i thought it was pretty sweet & creative. but as i was reading i saw some people are not keen on idea. they think of it as a “marketing strategy” (first of all, of course it is) and that they think they could have donated without this whole gimmick. lowkey it is a waste of time, but people would waste time to play anyway why not do it for a cause. the thing is, aren’t most charities like this? there are events, fundraisers, auctions, food banks to participate in etc. virtual turnips don’t really have a real life currency worth, but isn’t the point of this is mostly to get people involved & raise awareness virtually with a pandemic & all. are social media people just looking for something to criticize as usual or you see their point?

can we have a discussion about this & share your thoughts? i don’t think anyone is right or wrong, people have different opinions.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I like this one more than the Gillette one. It seems like Hellman's actually put in work in to their island, rather than just releasing some QR codes and calling it a day. The Hellman's one gets the AC community more involved, since you have to go to their island.

At the end of the day though, both are PR stunts. Both are marketing aimed at the younger generations. I really don't like corporations getting involved with the AC community in general. It's weird. But the Hellman's one is feeding people and that takes priority to me.

 

[Xara]

i personally think this is great. not everybody has the means or the capacity to donate so this is a nice opportunity for people to get involved. sure, hellmann’s could always donate 25,000 meals without bringing animal crossing into it but still, this is a nice and simple way to get involved imo ;;

 

[Mick]

I do not like this new trend of companies using the game to advertise their stuff. Hope it doesn't continue.

 

[Snowifer]

It's nice that they're donating, but it's 100% a publicity stunt.

 

[jenboston22]

Haha, it's definitely a marketing gimmick, but it's clever, and it doesn't bother me. It's a fairly innocent advertising campaign, sense it involves Animal Crossing. (There are certainly much more problematic ad campaigns out there!) It also does ultimately go to a good cause. I, too, advertise my business in the Animal Crossing community (although for me, it's on a much smaller scale! Haha! ).

 

[Nefarious]

Companies using Animal Crossing as a marketing device definitely leaves a sour taste and I hope this trend doesn’t continue, but at least this one is (hopefully) actually going somewhere.

Tom Nook would approve this kind of use at least. He donates his bells to orphanages, go ahead and donate your turnips for the hungry.

 

[Darcy94x]

I think it’s great. Sorry but there’s a world outside animal crossing where there are bigger problems than Tom Nook charging you to make your house bigger. I’m all for helping charities, less fortunate etc and I honestly do not care they are using animal crossing to promote so. It’s not as if their products are ridiculous prices I mean.. it’s mayo... also watching the video they’ve clearly taken time to make their island look nice. It’s not as if they are asking for bells or NMT they are asking for spoiled turnips... that we put in the bin anyway don’t understand why people are so sour about helping people who worry about where their next meal is going to come from

 

[Underneath The Stars]

Haha, it's definitely a marketing gimmick, but it's clever, and it doesn't bother me. It's a fairly innocent advertising campaign, sense it involves Animal Crossing. (There are certainly much more problematic ad campaigns out there!) It also does ultimately go to a good cause. I, too, advertise my business in the Animal Crossing community (although for me, it's on a much smaller scale! Haha! ).

haha i can respect that. i understand people don’t like companies using AC for PR stunt but at the end of the day, who are they hurting? i would love to know, maybe i just don’t know yet but i would love someone to elaborate.

these strategies were probably suggested by someone in the company who already plays AC in the first place.

i heard some local KFC launched a father’s day event on AC where you can visit KFC island or something. obvious marketing strategy but hey, people are trying to get by & still run their business during these times. Lush did it too. Hellmann’s definitely doing that same marketing tactic but with a twist and trying to get headlines, at least it’s for a good cause.

i can see the point of both sides, but someone wrap my head around on how it is problematic. people just say it is, without going further. one thing i can think of is companies being opportunistic/riding the hype, is that just it?

if some company is using to promote, how is it worse when one is using it to promote something for a good cause? is it better if they just give QR codes/custom designs and let people tour their island and called it a day?

 

[skarmoury]

Yeah, when I read it I first thought, "Why not just donate everything they can and not wait for virtual turnips before taking initiative to donate?"
The thought behind spreading awareness is cool, but I do hope they are donating everything they can regardless of how many players come to give turnips. I do think they're doing that, so I'm more inclined to believe this is just a PR stunt.

edit: hopefully they'll donate more food stuff than received spoiled turnips. Imagine the numbers if so many people donated turnips but they only allotted this much food to donate lol. I think the tallied numbers are just my issue here, but anyway hope they come through with many donations from their end.

 

[Midoriya]

I think it’s great. Sorry but there’s a world outside animal crossing where there are bigger problems than Tom Nook charging you to make your house bigger. I’m all for helping charities, less fortunate etc and I honestly do not care they are using animal crossing to promote so. It’s not as if their products are ridiculous prices I mean.. it’s mayo... also watching the video they’ve clearly taken time to make their island look nice. It’s not as if they are asking for bells or NMT they are asking for spoiled turnips... that we put in the bin anyway don’t understand why people are so sour about helping people who worry about where their next meal is going to come from

This is exactly my take on it. As long as they’re actually doing what they say they are going to do, then I don’t see any problems with this. Call it whatever you want, but if it ends up helping people who need to survive then I don’t see anything wrong with it. Though, as someone who majored in business, I find this concept very unheard of and... unique. I suppose it’s just one way companies are trying to survive right now though.

 

[Underneath The Stars]

Yeah, when I read it I first thought, "Why not just donate everything they can and not wait for virtual turnips before taking initiative to donate?"
The thought behind spreading awareness is cool, but I do hope they are donating everything they can regardless of how many players come to give turnips. I do think they're doing that, so I'm more inclined to believe this is just a PR stunt.

edit: hopefully they'll donate more food stuff than received spoiled turnips. Imagine the numbers if so many people donated turnips but they only allotted this much food to donate lol. I think the tallied numbers are just my issue here, but anyway hope they come through with many donations from their end.

lmao their true intentions will show if this blows up & they couldn’t handle it. not gonna lie, i just wanna see the outcome of this. it’s crazy to see on paper because this was never done before. it’s definitely unique, i will say that.

 

[Manah]

Yeah, those are marketing strategies, but remember you have control over how you handle them. I don't care if it's a corporation or some random player who makes fun patterns, because either way I have a fun pattern and I still won't buy anything in real life if I don't need it just because the corporation made a fun pattern. If I'm going to (help) donate to something, I find a creative way to do this more appealing, and it's not like I would lose anything by dropping useless virtual items in someone else's game.

But maybe they should have announced this earlier so people would've had the chance to hold on to some rotten turnips? I don't even have fresh ones this week and I don't usually let them go to waste for no reason.

 

[smonikkims]

It's whatever, and it would be cool if this kind of thing stopped, but I don't think we have anything to worry about - when the game fully drops off the mainstream radar this just won't happen any more. In the meantime it's a temporary way of spreading a little more positivity, just not in the way that our once-hidden little community might have hoped.

 

[Bugs]

I think from the way they worded it ("our goal is 2500 meals") they have probably already put aside the money and intend to buy at least 2500 regardless of how many people donate turnips, but depending on the amount of traffic the post/idea receives they will probably end up donating more, it's a bit of a win-win scenario, they receive more traffic and gain fans, and charities get donations.

 

[Jhine7]

This is really cool, definitely worth it to let a turnip spoil or two!

 

[WalceDony]

It's nice! Hopefully they don't actually use spoiled turnips to make the meals though

 

[bebebese]

What confuses me is are these companies allowed to do this..? Like Nintendo put their foot down on players charging real money for in-game items, so if these companies make money from these PR stunts, does that count as making money from the game?

I guess by making them charity or awareness campaigns, the companies sidestep this, but it still feels a little grubby to me that they're essentially using this game (a fun hobby and escape for people) to spread their brand and essentially advertise their product, even if it's not the direct focus of the campaigns. I don't want to think of mayonnaise or razors when talking to my animal friends lol

 

[Sweetley]

I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if this becomes a new popular trend, with companies using such unique ways now to reach out to the people after they can't use their old ones anymore due to the Corona madness. Sure, this and the Gillette one are PR stunts, then again, they don't force you to spend real money here for anything and it's also kinda a nice thing they do.

 

[Sheydra]

Personally I think it’s great. Their not asking for money and charity thru games have been around for a long time. If you don’t like don’t go to the island. Besides with the general lockdown still in effect it’s a nice way to get people to help others without all the fear of exposure.