As part of the campaign for its 100th anniversary, a Migros visual is currently adorning advertising billboards in German-speaking Switzerland. We see a child sitting on the ground, crying, apparently frustrated at not having gotten what he wanted. Above the image is a “Thank you, Drama Queens” accompanied by the slogan “Our floor is your stage.”
If this photo seems to illustrate an everyday moment that many parents know, it does not make everyone smile. This is the case of Lisa Werthmüller, psychologist and parenting coach: “Calling a child a “drama queen” assumes that he is intentionally manipulating his parents, while he is expressing emotional distress. This ad devalues her feelings and makes people believe that they are not legitimate,” the specialist writes on the networks. According to her, Migros’ approach reflects a societal trend: children are expected to act like adults by controlling their emotions, an injunction that they are not capable of satisfying.
This analysis has received numerous approvals… and criticism: “The choice of words is not perfect, but it’s an ad, not a treatise on developmental psychology,” wrote one Internet user.
Migros, for its part… plays down the drama. “The aim is to recall familiar situations with lightness,” explains spokesperson Tobias Ochsenbein. He nevertheless says he is aware that this kind of humor can “be perceived in different ways”. Despite the criticism, the company claims to receive a lot of positive feedback from customers: “Many people recognize themselves in one of our advertisements and appreciate their humorous content.”
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Humor not always understood
In October, Migros had already sparked mixed reactions with a campaign for True Fruits fruit juice. One of the slogans, taken from an online comment, stated that one of the smoothies “goes down very well with smoking a joint.” While some found the approach amusing, others denounced the trivialization of cannabis, criticizing the lightness of the orange giant in the face of addiction. Migros then explained that humor and provocation were part of the brand’s strategy.
