10 Yetis Examples of Good and Bad PR- Monday 14th August 2017

Happy Monday everybody – Lauren here with a round-up of the very best and worst examples of PR that caught my eye over the past week or so here at Yeti Towers!

Good PR

Parents will no doubt be frantically making their way to their local ‘Lush’ branch during lunch breaks this week after media are reporting that a simple £8 body lotion on sale at the beauty retailer is the key to getting your little ones to sleep the entire night through.

As reported this morning on the likes of Netmums and Metro Online, the “Sleepy Lotion” with a distinct lavender scent, is helping countless British parents to enjoy a full night’s sleep after introducing it into their child’s bedtime routine. One mother even claimed that simply using the lotion with her 18 month old daughter stopped her from waking up between 5 and 6 times a night and settled her into a full night’s sleep without any disturbance. Sounds like Lush might be onto a winner with this one guys!

Parents of slightly older children were probably quick to point out the offer that chicken experts Nando’s were offering last week to students receiving their GCSE results. Any 15 or 16 year olds nervously anticipating their results last Thursday were eligible to claim a quarter chicken or any appetiser dish. If only they’d offered the same thing during the Summer of 2007 when I received my own GCSE results – it would’ve made the C I got in IT a whole lot more bearable!

Following in the footsteps of Tesco and Morrisons, retailer Waitrose last week jumped on the ‘Tampon Tax’ bandwagon as the latest British supermarket to pay for the added VAT placed on female sanitary products in the UK, and give us gals a bit of a break when it comes to the monthly expenditure.

Bad PR

A very distressing story being circulated amongst the majority of UK news outlets this morning has been the story of a double amputee woman who was refused a lift from her Uber driver after he mistakenly assumed her to be drunk.

33 year old Claire Brown, from Uxbridge in West London, was left in tears after her Uber driver also told her and her partner to “F**k off” before driving away.

A spokesperson for the company said:

‘Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination from riders or licensed drivers who use the app. We take any allegations of discriminatory behaviour very seriously. We’re currently investigating this incident and it is our policy to prevent drivers from using our app while we investigate serious incidents.’

Finally, sandwich lovers will be collectively worrying after Subway announced that they will now be charging customers wanting their food toasted more money as it’s classed as a hot sandwich and therefore can have a 20% VAT added to the cost.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Subway said:

‘Since changes to VAT in 2012 (the pasty tax) Subway has repeatedly tried to challenge the law in order to protect the customer. Subway franchisees have been absorbing the VAT cost, charging a single price for food, whether hot or cold or eat-in or take-away. The dual-pricing menu is similar to what customers see on other high-street chain menus, which ensures that customers pay the lowest price for products which do not attract VAT. Subway stores are individually owned and operated, store owners set their own prices and they may vary.’