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LOOK When Mondelez 'supported' a negative story on Nestle

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Brands generally stay away from slamming their competitors out right and in a malicious manner. Most of the ad wars we have seen between the likes of Samsung and Apple, Burger King and McD's or Coca-cola and Pepsi are more tongue and cheek in nature.However, an article written about Nestle yesterday by  The Guardian talking about the brand’s slavery and child labour issues in Thailand caught the attention of the ad world for being “supported by Mondelez”.The article headlined “Nestlé admits slavery in Thailand while fighting child labour lawsuit in Ivory Coast” shows a small tab at the bottom which reads “supported by Mondelez”.Mondelez also flaunted several banner ads throughout the article which read “We believe everyone has a voice in creating change. See how we are creating the change”. The banner add then links to a Mondelez sustainability microsite which aims to “create a global conversation centered on the well-being of the world”.The sheer placement of the Mondelez’s name near the headline, and the banner adds thrown throughout the article, could easily be mistaken for our beloved makers of Oreo and Cadbury, to be behind the creation of a negative story about their competitors.However, in a statement to Marketing, a spokesperson from Mondelez clarified that it was pure coincidence. He explained that the company had a media partnership with The Guardian since November 2015 and as part of that, it dedicated a “partner zone” on the site to raise awareness around its broad sustainability efforts. The partnership also covers The Guardian's Sustainable Business' Supply Chain section and is fully independent editorially.“As with any publication, there's a strict separation between the advertising and the editorial content, so we do not have a say in the editorial content that is featured in that particular section,” he added.This was further supported by The Guardian’s commercial content guidelines,  which clarified that ‘Supported by’ is used to describe editorially independent content which the Guardian has produced with funding from foundations.“Before funding is agreed with a client, relevant senior editors are consulted about its suitability and the editor-in-chief has the final say on whether a funding deal is accepted. A client whose branding appears on editorial content may have a role in suggesting what kind of topics are covered, but the commissioning editor is not obliged to accept ideas from the funder,” read the statement.The content is ultimately written and edited by Guardian and Observer journalists.(Read also: When does being brash in your marketing stunt work?)It is different from ‘paid content/paid for by’ is used to describe advertisement features that are paid for and controlled by the advertiser.While the intention might not have been ill-willed, it still does create an impression of negative press being created by Mondelez for its biggest competitor.In a conversation with Marketing, one media agency veteran said that in this situation ultimately it is Mondelez and the Guardian who have the negative brand impact rather than Nestle. He added that the only person who has foresight into the content that was being published was the editorial team at the publication.“More and more as content becomes real times and the speed increases on digital platforms, publication need to step up and make the call to protect their advertisers’ interest to align the content and context,” he said.Moreover unlike programmatic buys, this was a situation where the publication knew the advertisements that would be placed beside the article and could have been better controlled.

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