Takeaway delivery service Deliveroo removes Facebook ads after consumers complain
A POPULAR takeaway delivery service has removed a series of “American Apparel wannabe” Facebook ads after social media users complained about them.
AUSTRALIAN takeaway delivery service Deliveroo has removed a series of “American Apparel wannabe” advertisements from its Facebook page after social media users complained the ads were “weird”, “embarrassing” and “like soft core porn”.
The sponsored ads feature images of a blonde woman wearing a sheer black bra and denim shorts. They include phrases such as “I am your new best friend” and “Hey babes, turn that angry frown upside down”.
“I deliver your favourite meals from the BEST restaurants in town, and it takes me under 32 minutes. See you soon cutie x,” read one of the ads posted on Facebook this week.
Social media users have criticised the campaign and compared it to the controversial American Apparel ads, which featured young women posing topless and in lingerie.
So I'm aware that these ads would have a great ROI, but at what cost? pic.twitter.com/Bbpw5SwyHg
— Morgan Ranieri (@morganranieri) March 15, 2016
“Their attempts to be cool and on trend are embarrassing and the stock photos of scantily clad young girls make them look like creepy American Apparel wannabes,” one woman wrote. “And considering you can target Facebook ads by gender, just bad planning,” another added.
Others said Deliveroo was “doing it all wrong”.
“What’s up with the cutie?” wrote one woman on Facebook. “People find this more weird and scary than anything else. We don’t want to be your best friend and also, it’s weird.”
Another said: “I feel I should be outraged at the rubbish way Deliveroo advertise. Soft porn style half naked girls really don’t deliver the food, do they?”
A spokeswoman for Deliveroo told news.com.au the advertisements appeared on Facebook “due to human error” and have now been removed.
“As part of our launch into Australia, we have been testing different marketing campaigns on Instagram and Facebook. We recognise different platforms have different tones of voices,” the spokeswoman said.
“We will always trial new marketing campaigns based on our different demographics, as well as take on board the insights we’re learning and feedback from the public and our customers.”
But as of Friday morning, images of the same model were still being used in targeted Facebook ads.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Advertising Standards Board says the organisation has not received any official complaints about the Deliveroo advertisements.
Deliveroo is a UK-based online restaurant food delivery business which launched in Australia late last year and is now partnered with 600 high end restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney.
Last month, the company came under fire for allegedly paying its delivery riders less than the minimum wage and failing to offer them correct penalty rates and superannuation contributions.
rebecca.sullivan@news.com.au