Ayrshire, UK: A surprising showdown unfolded as Farmer Bryce Cunningham of Mossgiel Organic Farm faced off against the multinational oat drink giant Oatly in a spirited debate about climate labeling on food products.
The stage for this encounter was set on Reddit, where Oatly, known for its bold marketing campaigns, orchestrated a unique AMA (Ask Me Anything) event, typically reserved for celebrities, to discuss climate labelling.
Oatly proudly touted their practice of printing carbon footprint values on their packaging, drawing attention to the dairy industry’s lack of such transparency.
Adding a touch of flair, Oatly put out an open call for a ‘BIG DAIRY EXECUTIVE’ to join the discussion, aiming to explain why Oatly could provide carbon labelling while the dairy industry could not.
They launched a promotional video across LinkedIn, Reddit, and Instagram to invite dairy executives to the event.
The video featured ‘Mr. Manny Quinn,’ a mannequin prepared to stand in for a dairy executive if none stepped up. Beside the mannequin, Oatly’s sustainability director, Caroline Reid, represented the brand, promoting the Reddit AMA.
Bryce Cunningham, a farmer leading a modest-sized organic dairy working with five other farmers, came across the advertisement and threw his hat in the ring. While he wasn’t a “big dairy executive,” he believed Oatly’s unwarranted claims and wanted to share his perspective.
Bryce applied a week before the event, accusing the super brand of being ‘sizeist’ and arguing that he should not be excluded from the debate.
To Oatly’s surprise, Farmer Bryce was the only applicant despite the ad’s reach of 26 million people across the EU.
On the day of the event, Oatly revealed that no prominent dairy executives had applied but promised a special guest after the first hour of the two-hour event – that special guest was none other than Farmer Bryce.
The discussion delved into the climate impact of our food systems, addressing the challenges of calculating carbon footprints due to inconsistent regulations and greenwashing by some brands.
In this David versus Goliath moment, Bryce held his own against the multinational brand and offered constructive suggestions, such as encouraging Oatly to use reusable containers instead of single-use cartons for their products.
In a world increasingly focused on climate change and sustainability, it has never been more vital to have open forums for these discussions.
