Teachers' association takes issue with new Coop campaign

The spot, which Coop launched a few days ago, shows the story of the somewhat clumsy kindergarten teacher Pascal, who had not planned the school trip in enough detail and in the end finds the solution to all problems in a Coop store (Werbewoche.ch reported). 

As 20min.ch reportsHowever, the humorous commercial has gone down the wrong way with many teachers. The reason: the content of what is shown does not correspond to reality in many respects. Teachers never go into the forest alone with the children. The food is not provided by the teachers, but by the parents. It is generally agreed that no qualified kindergarten teacher would go on such an unprepared excursion with the children.

TBWA\Zurich, the agency responsible for the spot, is rather surprised by the uproar when asked by Werbewoche.ch. "To be quite honest, we didn't expect this reaction," says CEO Matthias Kiess. "The whole campaign is close to the people and tells fictional and, of course, slightly exaggerated stories from the everyday life of individual characters and their challenges. And these are told in a humorous and tongue-in-cheek way by Coop employees. We didn't expect that the somewhat exaggerated portrayal of a newcomer in his job would evoke such emotions in parts of the teaching staff." From a creative point of view, it was never intended to make fun of people, but rather to smile together about special situations in life, he adds.

The discussion is unlikely to have harmed attention - on the contrary. The 20min article generated almost 350 reader comments. The vast majority of commentators are clearly favorable to the ad. It seems as if the population liked the new Coop image campaign much more than the teachers' association.

One "directly affected person" is also bothered by the fact that men are portrayed as unprofessional. "As a minority in this profession, we are already confronted with enough prejudice," he says. In the canton of Zurich, he says, there is a huge shortage of kindergarten teachers anyway. "With the video from Coop, the image is only getting worse. Who still wants to learn this profession?"

The reaction of the Zurich Teachers' Association (ZLV) is interesting. 20min.ch demanded the immediate removal of the video. After watching the spot, his "hair stood on end," criticizes ZLV President Kurt Will upon request. It would have been easy to show the video to a teachers' association for comment beforehand, he thinks.

Coop, on the other hand, sees no reason to remove the video. They have received many positive reactions to the spot and the spot is understood as it is meant: with a wink.