The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2014
Honey Maid answers ad hate with art — every negative comment becomes LOVE
Honey Maid celebrated every kind of American family, then answered backlash on film — printed hate comments rolled up into the word LOVE.
Honey Maid (Mondelēz International) · Droga5 New York
What it had to solve
Honey Maid, the graham-cracker brand, had become old-fashioned and irrelevant to modern families, so Mondelez and Droga5 set out to recast what 'wholesome' means — spotlighting same-sex, interracial and single parents in a campaign called 'This Is Wholesome.'
How it works
In March 2014, Honey Maid and Droga5 launched 'This Is Wholesome,' a campaign built on the insight that the American family had changed while the brand had not. Short documentary-style films celebrated real families that had rarely appeared in mainstream ads — same-sex parents, interracial couples and single fathers — under the message that whatever makes a family wholesome is the same in every household.
The inclusive casting drew the expected backlash: the brand received a stream of negative and homophobic comments, which was exactly the moment the campaign's second act was built for. Droga5 made a follow-up film in which artists printed out the negative comments, rolled each sheet into a tube and assembled the collection into a large word 'LOVE' — turning the critics' own words into a piece of art.
The strategy paid off in attention and sales. The launch film had gathered more than 5 million YouTube views within about a month and nearly 8 million by September, when Adweek reported the campaign had lifted both Honey Maid's sales figures and Google searches for the brand. Droga5 extended the platform that fall with '#NotBroken,' a two-minute film about a blended family, and the whole effort was archived by D&AD with Pencils.
Why it lands
- It made a brand value the product: 'wholesome' was redefined through the families shown, so the advertising did the positioning rather than claiming it.
- The response converted attack into material — critics' own words became the art, which is impossible to argue with and cheap to share.
- It answered hate with action rather than explanation, showing the brand standing behind the message instead of defending it in a press release.
- The films were built as a series, so one idea kept generating new content and new conversations instead of ending with a single spot.
What it did
The launch film drew more than 5 million YouTube views within weeks and nearly 8 million by September, per Digiday. Adweek reported the campaign proved a success with increased sales and Google searches for Honey Maid, and it continued into a second installment, '#NotBroken,' for blended families — while the response film became the campaign's most-cited piece and the work entered the D&AD archive.
What you can take
When criticism attacks your idea, make the criticism the material: converting hate comments into the word LOVE answered the loudest critics with their own words — and the response became the campaign.
Since then
Droga5 followed the launch with '#NotBroken' in September 2014, and Honey Maid kept extending the 'This Is Wholesome' platform with new installments. The response piece became a reference case for brands facing backlash — D&AD archived the work with Pencils, and Honey Maid's answer is still cited in agency collections as an example of turning hostile attention into brand content.
Sources
- This is Wholesome — D&AD archive entry
- Honey Maid Turns Ad Backlash into Love
- Honey Maid celebrates the modern American family, again
- Droga5 Celebrates 'Not Broken' Families for Honey Maid
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