Weeks of unwanted headlines across the UK’s media appear to have had very little impact on the company’s Brand Index buzz, recommend, quality or satisfaction levels.

The company’s decision to withdraw an ad featuring two men kissing at the end of June, the first major campaign since Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO took over the account, was marked by just a one percentage drop in buzz.

Buzz, the measure of whether people have heard positive or negative things about a brand, slipped from 7 points on 20 June to 6 the following week when both gay lobby groups made their separate boycott appeals.

By the time the Advertising Standards Authority unavoidably added to the debate on 2 July by announcing it did not consider any of the 200 plus complaints to be worth investigating, the food giant’s buzz had hit an annual low of 5.

While not ideal, after beginning the year on just 7, and with an annual high of 9, the 2 point blip is far from catastrophic. Furthermore, by last week, buzz had once again crept back up to 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the past, other brands tracked by YouGov for mad.co.uk have posted far greater falls in buzz following spells of negative publicity.

It would appear the $2.5 billion company, which first travelled to the UK in 1886, has built a hardy reputation among British consumers.

The brand’s recommend levels actually increased one percentage point from 40 to 41 in the three weeks following the dispute. Quality and satisfaction levels were also unaffected, holding steady around 43 and 46 respectively, the same levels at which it began the year.

Meanwhile, the sauce and soup specialist continues to attract the full force of angry gay consumers online. Typing ‘Heinz gay kiss’ into Google provides thousands of different takes on the story, with many including online petitions and diatribes against the brand.

For its part, Heinz itself has said remarkably little on the subject since announcing its decision to pull the campaign because “it failed in its attempt to be humorous and offended people on all sides”.

Perhaps it should not be surprising that such an established global icon is able to weather a PR storm. Let’s not forget, Heinz Ketchup still features prominently on café tables and in kitchen cupboards up and down the country. The sauce has also been immortalised by pop artist Andy Warhol, who used images of the bottle to represent modern life.

YouGov’s data suggests the decision to let such steeped heritage do the talking appears to have been a good one.

Methodology

YouGov interviews 2,000 people each weekday to form its BrandIndex, a daily measure of public perception of more than 1,100 consumer brands across 32 sectors. It is measured on a seven-point profile: Buzz, General Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Recommend and Corporate reputation

Arif Durrani is news editor at mad.co.uk.