[imagesource: Jungle South Africa / Facebook]
As someone who is not a fan of either Weet-Bix or Jungle Oats, I’m fine with them fighting to the death.
You either get a cereal that starts out as mush or one that slowly disintegrates into mush, neither of which are particularly appealing.
But don’t listen to me, because how you choose to start your day is your business.
While the two brands are competitors to some degree, they’ve been pretty good at keeping things civil.
Then, along came a supermarket employee, tasked with putting up the ads in the cereal aisle at an unnamed store, who set events in motion on social media that can only be described as unfortunate.
The Jungle Oats ad asks “Does your cereal soak up too much milk?”, which is fine, except it was placed directly in front of the Weet-Bix shelf.
Weet-Bix, as you know if you’ve consumed it, requires some sort of milk to make it work.
Here’s Twitter:
Jungle oats is wildin
pic.twitter.com/dRmdONjTRx
— #SlaapTigerxDJTiraxNaakmusiq (@BarbaraMofokeng) November 28, 2020
Guys, look what Jungle Oats did
pic.twitter.com/Qj2Oggoq92
— Molatelo SiR Racheku® (@TheRealPaniki) November 27, 2020
The shots are fired
— Hermaine M (@HermaineM) November 29, 2020
Cereal beef is a thing?
— Gomolemo wa Maruapula (@MonsieurGomez97) November 30, 2020
Jungle Oats is a cereal killer
— Death
Stroke
(@Death_Stroke01) November 29, 2020
Jungle Oats won
pic.twitter.com/WQUbzbwJWn
— Mrs Thor (@Amanda_Aphane) November 29, 2020
The company, via Business Insider SA, says that it really had nothing to do with the slight.
“The category banners are designed with the intention of being placed within the home aisles such as the cereal aisles. However, given the fact that Jungle does not control the aisle, we are unable to comment on this specific placement,” says Kanyisa Ndyondya, spokesperson for Tiger Brands, which owns the Jungle Oats brands.
There was some slight retaliation from Weet-Bix, though, which took the opportunity to punt their brand:
Responding to the ad, Mandy Murphy, foods executive at PepsiCo SSA which owns the Weet-Bix brand, said: “We understand that Jungle Oats might be feeling a little lonely. Bokomo is by far the biggest cereal brand in SA, and Weet-Bix is found in more homes than any other cereal”.
Murphy says that people only eat Bokomo Oats if they “feel like a change”.
The gloves are off, the shade has been thrown, and I’ll bet that supermarket employee is having a bit of a chuckle.
[source:businessinsidersa]
