Cadbury Apologizes to Naomi Campbell Over Ad
They're used to eating chocolate. Now Cadbury is eating crow.
The company has issued a public mea culpa to Naomi Campbell after the supermodel called an ad for its Dairy Milk Bliss candy bar "hurtful and insulting."
The ad, which featured an image of the chocolate bar with the text "Move over, Naomi, there's a new diva in town," prompted accusations of racism after Campbell objected to being compared to a piece of chocolate.
Cadbury's parent company Kraft Foods swiftly sent out a statement saying that it had pulled the ads, but now the brand is taking extra measures by posting a public apology on its Web site.
"Cadbury understands that our latest advertising campaign for Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss caused upset to Naomi Campbell and her family," a statement reads. "Cadbury takes its responsibility to consumers very seriously indeed and we would never deliberately produce any marketing material we felt might cause offense to any section of society. It was not our intention that this campaign should offend Naomi, her family or anybody else and we are sincerely sorry that it has done so.
"We can confirm that the advertisement is no longer in circulation and we will not be using it in future marketing for Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss. We have been in discussions with Naomi‘s solicitors and can confirm that they have accepted our apology on her behalf as a conclusion to this issue."
Still, the final word belongs to the supermodel.
"I'm pleased that Cadbury have made a 'sincere apology' in regards to their Bliss ad campaign," she told the Guardian. "The advertisement was in poor taste on a number of levels, not least in the way they likened me to their chocolate bar. It is also a shame that it took so long for Cadbury to offer this apology.
"I hope they and other multinationals can learn from this; that offense may not be their intention, but when it is shown that it has caused offense a sincere apology straight away goes a long way. Better still they should avoid causing offense in the first place which is best achieved by having greater diversity at board and senior management level."
