The dinner is ready - but the kids just do not come, because, for example, "Fortnite" is much more appealing? Such situations are familiar to many parents - and the employees of the advertising department of Aldi UK apparently also. They are currently working on a campaign called "Teatime Takedown," which quickly makes them question whether they are serious.
Parents of children who just can not get away from the game console should allegedly be able to get help from Aldi: For this purpose, she should provide the company with the online player name of her child, for example for the Playstation Network.
Aldi will then allegedly send "an elite group of professional players", which defeats the children online. So the kids would "no longer have an excuse not to sit at the table when dinner is ready". A promotional video on the action shows in anger about failing children ausrastende.
Website for action
According to the campaign, the takedowns are scheduled to take place between 17:00 and 20:30 on certain days in March. One of the actions is also scheduled for March 31, UK Mother's Day, between 12 and 20 o'clock.
Applicants willing to register ask Aldi for the name of the game, which is probably played by the child. In addition, a mobile phone number, an e-mail address and the name of the person making the registration should be entered in the registration form.
According to the terms and conditions of Teatime Takedown, McCann is behind the action. The pro-gamer, who should defeat the children, is therefore the e-sports company Veloce Esports. And a third company called PromoVeritas apparently offers an SMS service that is used to communicate with parents.
The processes remain unclear
How exactly Aldi imagines the online "takedowns" remains unclear in detail. The terms and conditions indicate that the target person will be contacted in advance, either "via a written message" or "orally via the game's platform / voice chat". A "Takedown" will not be possible if the target person does not want to play against the professional gamer, it is said.
The contact will take place after a pre-checked by Aldi script, writes Aldi on. Likewise, the terms already indicate that the company has an interest in collaborating with participating parents for promotional purposes. In addition, Aldi reserves the right to terminate the action at any time or not at all.
However, other questions remain unanswered: what happens when a child manages to defeat a professional gamer? And how exactly will Aldi check to see if it really was the parents who chose someone as the opponent for the pro-gamers? The username of most console players is no secret that only the parents know.
Apparently no gaming experts
In general, Aldi's advertising department does not seem to be very familiar with gaming: for example, as a platform on which someone plays, there is also a choice of Twitch alongside the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One. This is a streaming platform, not a console.
In the social networks gamer not only scoff because of Aldis campaign. Many game fans are also annoyed that Aldi presents the dinner problem as if it could not be solved by clear agreements with the children or by education.
In addition, the action evokes unattractive associations with the so-called Swatting: In this case, people pretend an emergency with someone else, with the aim that the police or directly a Swat team, a US special unit for hostage-taking or rampage, for a certain Person shows up. Such supposedly funny actions have already been deadly.
After all, this danger does not exist in the Aldi campaign. At home, the project could still cause displeasure: Because it is certainly not guaranteed that children look forward to hearing that their parents have used professional gamers on them - in the course of a promotion by Aldi.