Zoopla apologises for ‘me too’ hermit crab advert after it whips up Twitter storm

Zoopla has apologised after the latest version of its hermit crab advert campaign whipped up a Twitter storm and prompted one member of the public to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The ad (pictured, right), which is currently running on the London underground and features a line of hermit crabs each answering “Me too” to the statement “I’m selling my house on Zoopla”, upset many people on social media because of its unintended link to the global #metoo movement triggered by the revelations of sexual harassment within the Hollywood film industry.

Hundreds of people took to Twitter to vent their anger, calling out the portal for “for misrepresenting the hastag #metoo” as one post put it, and that it was in “poor taste” and “repulsive hijacking”.

But following the complaint to the ASA, a spokesperson for the advertising watchdog disagreed, saying that “while the ad does use the phrase ‘me too’ we consider that viewers of the ad are likely to interpret its use as the crabs all agreeing to sell their houses on Zoopla, rather than a reference to recent sexual harassment claims and the resulting #metoo campaign”.

Several Twitter accounts also rose to the defence of the portal yesterday, saying that “[those complaining about the ads] don’t have a monopoly on the words ‘me too’. They’ve been in the English language for some time and you can’t claim them because they’re not yours.”

Apology

But Zoopla moved quickly to try and quell the criticism, releasing a statement that apologises for any offence caused.

“The aim of our latest ad campaign is to demonstrate, in our usual light-hearted tone of voice, that Zoopla is a popular and well-known property website when selling or renting a home,” it says.

“In no way was the ad intended to carry any other meaning or allude to any other context and we apologise for any offence it might have caused.”