Masterclass in… not empathy

(Trigger warning: Loss / Mother’s Day)

Last week I shared a Masterclass in Empathy, where a retailer offered a way to opt-out of a Mother’s Day promotion for those who find that particular day difficult.

Today was ANZAC day – for anyone outside of Aus or NZ, it’s the day that officially commemorates the start of the Australian and New Zealand contribution to the first world war, and has grown to remember all who have served and died in all conflicts.

So it was quite jarring to see a promotional email from a retailer today, with the subject line “Find Exclusive Anzac Day Savings Inside” with all the casualness of a black Friday sale.

I’m sure it was a fluff of judgement, but if it wasn’t, I can’t imagine what makes a company think it should belongs on the promotional calendar… so I let them know (I’m sure others will too):

Since sending that, I’ve discovered there are actually fines for misuse of the word ANZAC, particularly as a marketing tool.

I’m holding off on the name-and-shame for now to see what the response is (I hope they own the error) but I’ve now seen both ends of the empathy spectrum in the space of a week:

1. Boody (last week’s email) putting humanity, inclusivity, and respect first; and
2. This mob, with a push for sales ahead of all else (a judgement based on this one email from them).

Hopefully it was just a bad call.

Humanity is important – not everything is a sales opportunity.