A new battle line has been drawn. It’s the rivalry absolutely no one saw coming (and no one really asked for) – which supermarket chain can release the campiest advert in 2024? First came Lidl, who hired Martine McCutcheon, Diane from The Traitors, Charity Shop Sue and Hunsnet founder Gareth Howells to perform Just A Lidl Bit (lol) in front of a green screened mock-up of the grocery store, rolling around in a leopard print covered trolley adorned with a pink feather boa. This was, as Karlie Kloss would say, “looking camp straight in the eye,” although true Lidl heads will know the best way to enjoy such hits as “Italian week” is with those big baskets on wheels that they provide by the entrance. (I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen a true shopping trolley at Lidl.)
Meanwhile, Waitrose were preparing to drop a new campaign of their own. On October 9th, Waitrose dropped a Jax Jones remix of You’re My Number One by S Club, which, like you might imagine, was accompanied by a video of the pop band performing a dance routine in the crisp aisle, before sitting down to a fake banquet, set dressed by John Lewis. This advert also has the craziest camera flipping I’ve seen outside of a horror film, which made me feel very sick. Rachel Stevens and Tina are still serving though!
This is by no means the first time the supermarkets have turned to camp as a marketing tool. British huns will remember the Sharon Osbourne advert for Asda (“Keep putting those chippolatas on, Latoya!”) and the Spice Girls running around Tesco hiding from one another while filling their baskets with gifts for their bandmates. Victoria Beckham doing a catwalk strut in 6” heels while pushing a shopping trolley served as inspiration for my own supermarket fashion shows as a precocious 00s child.
The British supermarket, with its horrible luminescent lighting, fluffy grey leopard print slippers, yellow sticker bargains, tacky seasonal theming, and aisles full from top to bottom with neon plastic, is a cathedral to hun culture, and by extension, our British understanding of camp in itself. This is a land without pretension – even, it seems, if you’re Waitrose.
Whereas the Spice Girls doing Christmas shopping and Sharon Osbourne’s chippolata quips were unintentionally camp (maybe?), this new gen has gone full throttle, slap in your face with it. It’s almost like the marketers know that the people who used to watch those other adverts were impressionable children, now grown millennials with a nostalgia fetish, who spend money on groceries and use social media.
There are only three kinds of people likely to share a supermarket advert. 1) Racists who take issue with a non-white family being featured round the dinner table, and want to call it “woke nonsense”. 2) Mums who cry at John Lewis Christmas adverts. 3). Twitter Gays. As we’ve not *quite* tipped into mince pie season yet, and group one should be avoided at all costs, Lidl and Waitrose have targeted three. (The use of Diane from The Traitors seems particularly loaded in this regard.)
Ever since the Met Gala sent A-listers into a spin by using “camp” as a dress theme, this aesthetic of Queer-winking at bad taste has taken on a life and marketing currency of its own. The Unknown from the Glasgow Willy Wonka experience. Maryam Moshiri giving the middle finger during the countdown on BBC News. Kamala Harris and the coconut tree. The LGBTQ+ community sees a f*ck up as not only funny, but something beautiful and shareable in a way that is near incomprehensible to the heterosexual mind.
Could this just be hollow Pinkwashing or Queerbaiting? Well yes, but it also depends on the context. Lidl put on a WEEKLY THEME of delicious bargains (erm, hello! Gay!), and handed out free tote bags with dried mango at Mighty Hoopla (Bisexual coded). Meanwhile Waitrose/John Lewis managed to piss off right-wingers earlier in the year by publishing an article for their internal staff magazine offering advice on raising Trans and Non-binary children, and this Pride rainbow cake recipe looks really delicious. Just look at the Waitrose Abingdon said QUEER RIGHTS!
“When large brands like supermarkets actively include the LGBTQ+ community in their marketing, it signals corporate endorsement of inclusivity,” says Hayley Knight, founder of PR and marketing agency Be Yellow, and former deputy head of PR for Pride in London. “It helps reinforce the idea that Queer culture is not only accepted but embraced within mainstream consumer culture… It helps to normalise diverse expressions of identity in everyday spaces through visibility and representation, and showcases campiness as cultural and self expression, rather than something that is marginalised.”
I ask Hayley about what this indicates for the kind of demographics the supermarkets are going for. “It shows us that the supermarkets want to target consumers who are open-minded, and who are progressive towards diversity and inclusion, as well as shoppers who are socially conscious… We can also suggest that they’re capturing more urban audiences, as well as those from diverse and multicultural backgrounds.”
Which supermarket will be next to release a campy social campaign? Personally, I will not rest until Dani Harmer tells a lump of gammon to bog off in a campaign for Aldi or Morrisons. And you can have that one for free!
Written by @iamhelenthomas
