How the Reaching Millions Board Benefits Businesses in Lockdown

As we settle into our second lockdown, the team at SBPR are busy working hard on a number of new clients that have joined the Reaching Millions Board since the beginning of the last lockdown. The Reaching Millions Board follows on from the Reaching Millions PR and Social Media Courses and are designed to give businesses the tools they need to action their own PR and social media strategies. It enables Board members to take PR/social in-house with us to fall back on, use, and to keep you on track.

At £450+VAT per month, the Board has proved hugely popular this year as businesses are looking for PR or social media support without the full-retainer monthly fee. The Board provides previous course attendees with an exclusive monthly meeting with a member of the senior SBPR team. We ‘meet’ once a month (either via Zoom or on the phone), with the first meeting used to create a timing strategy which will reflect the member’s PR or social media brief ensuring that we reach those objectives, and hit KPIs.

After that, the meetings are about looking back and discussing the month that’s been, the successes and challenges. And then the month coming, following the timing strategy, we can see what’s planned and work out together who, and how, each activity will be actioned. Board members also get three hours of our time each month, this can be used for anything from checking and editing press releases, creating social content, social engagement, creating media lists etc. Another attractive feature of the Board for businesses, is that the SBPR team also share any relevant journalist requests with you and let you know of any news in the media that you could comment on.

Since March this year we have welcomed the following Board members:

 Planet Doctors, a community initiative focussed on many issues surrounding climate change who are using the Board to set up Growers Groups on Facebook across the UK encouraging communities to grow their own fruit and vegetables in their gardens.

Orangutan & The Holt, a leading consultancy that designs incentive, membership, and loyalty programmes who are using the Board to support with PR; writing press releases, curating targeted media lists, and pitching.

BAO Skincare, a certified vegan, organic, natural and handmade skincare brand who are using the Board to help secure coverage in key media. SBPR have supported BAO by compiling press releases, profile pieces, product deck, targeted media lists and then pitching.

CANNADOX, a range of premium CBD products who are using the Board to run an influencer campaign. The SBPR team are researching suitable influencers, reaching out to them on Cannadox’s behalf and securing partnerships and reviews.

House of Heels, a boutique shoe shop who are using the Board to set up, curate content, and manage their social media channels for them, as well as supporting them with their PR by creating a regional press release and then pitching to media.

Goldman Laboratories, a dietary supplement brand offering raw, natural and high-quality vitamin C, D3 and Glutathione, are working with the Board on their PR, the SBPR have compiled press releases, a product deck, and targeted media lists.

To find out if PR could help your brand reach the next level, book onto our next Reaching Millions PR Course on Thursday 26th November from 10am -1pm. On the course, the SBPR team will take you on a PR journey from understanding the importance of developing three key messages, how to position yourself as the expert, how to get your brand reviewed, how to use case studies, to what to do when you have no ‘new news’.

The second half of the course focuses on how to pitch to journalists and includes what to include in a press release, tips for crafting the perfect pitch, how to build a result-delivering media list, and how to approach journalists, bloggers and influencers. The course is on Zoom and costs just £45 and is the perfect introduction for potential Reaching Millions Board members.

To find out more and book your space visit https://www.sunnybirdpr.com/online-course-pr-and-publicity

How to Pitch to Journalists During Covid-19

Here at Sunny Bird PR, we like to think we’re the experts in communicating to journalists; whether that’s a well thought out targeted email, or a straight to the point two minute phone call, we pride ourselves on getting great coverage for our clients. And what have we learnt from our years of experience in the industry, I hear you ask? It’s all in the pitch.

So, when Covid-19 hit we had to adapt to the new norm with journalists working from home, no longer could we jump on the phones and build a connection and meeting journalists are also a no-go at the moment with many still working from home.

As a result, we had to make sure our email pitches were even more on point than usual as this was the only way we could get in touch. At the start of lockdown, that dominated the media but now, it’s still being talked about, but journalists are looking for positive stories to share. If you have a story that could be seen as negative, try and add a happy ending, include that in your pitch, put a smile on the journalist’s face, and you could be on to a winner!

We’ve done some research and found some quotes from the journalists themselves who have given some advice and tips on pitching to them in this new ‘normal’ post lockdown.

Jane Hamilton – Journalist and Editor at The Sun

Jane wrote an article on what you should be doing to be sensitive to the situation but also to be successful during the pandemic:

“Should I still pitch at all? Yes, please do! Life goes on. Life WILL go back to normal (ish). In the meantime, most media outlets are looking for a balance of stories and need positives and heart-warming tales to combat the Covid-19 gloom.”

Read the full article here-

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-pitch-journalists-during-coronavirus-crisis-jane-hamilton/?trackingId=vJCAMQ7EHi7lfL9gtCmG2w%3D%3D

Angelica Malin, Editor-in-Chief at About Time Magazine

Angelica hosts #SheStartedIt podcast, here she gives lots of insight into the industry as well as discussing all things female empowerment. She says*:

 “Be personal. There has never been more of a need to be personal in your pitches. Generic press releases won’t land well and tailoring the first line of the pitch to the journalist is key. So spend time familiarising yourself with each journalist’s latest updates on social media and research the main topics that they cover.”

You may be thinking ‘but surely we’re getting back to normal and I can go back to what I was doing?’, unfortunately not. Journalists are still working from home (believe us, we’ve tried calling!) and will be for the foreseeable. They are often only contactable by email only, and you really don’t want to annoy a journalist by calling their mobile unexpectedly! So, for now, the email pitch is the best way to get yourself featured, so make sure it’s perfect!

If you’d like some help with your pitches and how to contact journalists, get in touch with the Sunny Bird PR team – hello@sunnybirdpr.com

*https://www.wavemakernorth.co.uk/how-to-pr-during-covid-19-according-to-journalists/

Case Studies

In this blog post you will learn all about case studies. What they are, how they can help your business and how to find them.

What is a case study?

Case studies are people. People who have tried out, can vouch for or speak about your brand, product or service in a positive and interesting way. Journalists love them because they add the sparkle of human interest to even the most mundane story, helping the reader engage with the piece. Case studies can elevate even the most seemingly boring business. Putting a person with a compelling story behind a product makes the brand more relatable to the consumer and to a journalist. It’s important to have a case study ready to go when contacting journalists, it will look unprofessional and probably annoy the journalist if you say you have one and then don’t get back to them with it pronto!

Where do I find a case study?

Case studies can be people who:

a.       Already use or buy your product or service.

b.       Could be interested in using your product or service.

If they are already a customer you should be able to contact them via your existing customer database, but if you don’t already have something established you could reach them via your website. Do you have people who are already leaving testimonials on your website or through social media? Could you add a button onsite or a link to your blog asking for people who would be happy to talk about your product or brand?

Alternatively use your own social media feed to reach out and ask. It’s a good idea to create a bank of case studies, you never know when the right opportunity may come up in the media to pitch your case studies out.

Will I need to get them photographed?

There’s no doubt that a good photo can help a case study get placed, but in general editors will want a clear head-shot in the initial stages and will then arrange for further photography if they need it, so there’s no need to pay out on an expensive shoot. However, it is important to send relevant photography to the journalist. For example, If yours is a service or product in the health, diet, fitness or wellness industry where a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot will be helpful, then you should absolutely ensure you have close ups and full body shots of your case study before pitching to an editor.

Dos and don’ts:

ALWAYS ensure you have the case study’s full permission in writing before proceeding.  They might have agreed to have their story featured but want to remain anonymous, so you could request a name change.  They may want parts of their personal details, such as the names of their children left out or they may or may not agree to a photograph being used. You should ensure you detail exactly what is expected of them and get them to agree in a signed, dated agreement.

ALWAYS ensure all parties involved in a feature give consent.

ALWAYS be extra careful when children are involved, to get the signed consent of all parents and or guardians involved in the child’s care.

ALWAYS ensure the case study is happy to be photographed. Journalists almost always require the case study to be identified, so ensure the case study is happy with that.

NEVER place a case study with more than one rival title. Editors hate to see identical or similar copy popping up in the competition as it devalues their content. You should avoid offering a case study to rival titles at the same time and state if a rival title has previously featured it.

NEVER ignore a journalist’s calls if a case study you have put forward lets you down or changes their mind. Let the journalist know as soon as possible and offer to help find someone else in order to maintain a good relationship.

At Sunny Bird PR we use case studies with pretty much all our clients. Whether that be for a domestic abuse charity, The Hampton Trust or for Just Shutters, a plantation window shutter company. Case studies have helped to propel our clients into the press with real life stories.

You can find our how Sunny Bird PR has used case studies to successfully get clients onto TV and radio as well as other media titles here!

If you would like to find out more how case studies could work for you and how to do your own PR, you can book onto our PR and Publicity Course on the 29th November at our Bournemouth offices - Sunny Bird PR, The Garden Studio, Pine Grange, Bath Road, Bournemouth, BH1 2PF

Follow this link to book your place!

Clientversary: Bliss Sanctuary for Women

The Sunny Bird PR team are celebrating another year ‘clientversary’ with Bliss Sanctuary for Women this month!

The luxury women’s only retreat in Bali first approached the team back in 2015 with the objective of raising the brand’s profile in UK press and the launch of its second sanctuary in Seminyak, following the launch of the first in Canggu.

Fast forward to 2019, and the SBPR were tasked with promoting the new sanctuary in relevant national press titles, securing celebrity trips to promote the sanctuary, as well as creating content and advertising on Bliss’ social media.

As the largest most luxurious sanctuary of the three, we knew we could use this to our advantage in attracting press coverage and celebrity trips. To start with we compiled a press release announcing the new sanctuary and pitched it to relevant travel, women and lifestyle titles as well as the national papers for inclusion in round ups, travel news and general features which focused on Bliss’ unique offerings.

Press coverage achieved included Bliss being featured in ‘Top Destinations of Women of the World’ in the Metro as well as ‘The World's 24 Hottest New Hotels Opening in 2019’ in The Telegraph. We also pitched Bliss in line with key awareness days such as International Women’s Day which resulted in coverage in The Independent for the ‘10 of The Best Female Only Trips for Solo Travellers’.

Our next approach was to secure well-known celebrities and national journalists for press trips in order to achieve national press coverage and increase social media followers.

The SBPR team used Bliss Sanctuary’s USPs, such as unlimited food, spa treatments and yoga, and the brand’s ethos of following ‘bliss on your terms’ to attract both media and celebrity attention.

We approached luxury titles, national newspapers, women’s titles, spa and yoga titles, tailoring each pitch to resonate with the publication and its readers, whether it was the luxury angle, solo travel, women’s only travel or the focus on wellbeing. We invited journalists to come and stay at Bliss and review the new sanctuary themselves in exchange for press coverage.

The team also researched and targeted celebrities to invite to Bliss in exchange for media interviews, photoshoots and exposure on their social media channels. We researched potential celebrities and the press angles, focussing on those that needed to take time out for themselves, spend time with the girls and focus on their mind, body and soul.

We only targeted celebrities with over 1 million followers on Instagram and negotiated the terms and conditions of their trips to maximise social media and press coverage.

As a result of this strategy we secured TOWIE stars Lydia Bright, Debbie Bright and Georgia Bright to take a mother-daughter trip to Bliss, as well as Love Island stars Zara McDermott, Ellie Brown, Samira Mighty, Jourdan Riane and Elma Pazaar for a ‘Love Island Reunion’ girls trip. We also secured two trips for Malin Andersson after she’d experienced a traumatic year, as well as well-known TV personality Vicky Pattison and her mum Caroll. The celebrity trips alone resulted in 40 pieces of national coverage in titles such as Daily Mail, The Sun, Metro, Closer, Soul & Spirit and Heat magazine.

Over the past year we have secured a total of 11 celebrity trips, with more big names booked to visit in January, as well as press trips for the Metro, Fabulous, Stella and Glamour magazine.

Alongside our PR campaign we have written regular Bliss News articles for the website on topics that women can relate to, created engaging content on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest as well as advertising campaigns to secure more bookings to the sanctuaries. We also positioned the Founder of Bliss, Zoe Watson, as an expert on hot topics such as wellness bathing, yoga and essential oils.

In total, over the past 12 months SBPR has achieved 56 pieces of coverage for Bliss Sanctuary for Women in top publications such as The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Metro, The Independent, Marie Claire, OK Magazine, Closer, Yoga Magazine to name a few. The total coverage reached over 55.1 million people and would have cost £1.7million if the same space was bought in advertising! Over the past year we have increased Bliss’ Instagram following by over 30,000 followers and positioned the brand as the number 1 women’s only Bali retreat for celebrities across the world.

We are looking forward to what the next year brings for Bliss and SBPR!

Reaching Your Consumer and Creating A Media List

Knowing you consumer will be key to you and your brand reaching millions. In today’s ‘digital age’ people consume new messages about brands and products in a variety of ways. The newspaper and magazine market may well be shrinking but top titles still boast readerships in the hundreds of thousands. Cleverly targeting TV or radio, online news and lifestyle websites, blogs and social media sites will get your message to your audience in the right way.

When trying to reach your target market, start by thinking about your consumer, target audience or end user.

·         Who are they?

·         How old are they?

·         Are they professional/white collar/blue collar/student/retired/homemaker?

·         How do they spend their time?

·         Where do they shop?

·         Which social media channels are they most active on?

·         How do they consume their media? Via blogs/TV/radio?

·         What media do they consume?

You should know the answer to all of the above and answering the last three questions is particularly crucial in gaining coverage that counts. All of this information will contribute to reaching your target audience and achieving the relevant coverage. Knowing which type of media they consume will also determine who you approach with your brand, story etc.

Once you know who your consumer is, you can target the media accordingly. The average ‘early adaptor’ must read, hear or see a message seven times, before they act on it. It’s therefore important to target multiple mediums to give your consumer different ‘touchpoints’ to absorb your message.

I’m sure you’re thinking where do I start? Well, below is a list of just a few of the different types of media on the market.

Trade press – these are industry-related titles meaning whichever industry you’re in, there will be accompanying trade titles. Such as Transport News, The Grocer, The Hotelier etc.

Regional press – newspapers and magazines specific to your area, such as Manchester Evening News, Yorkshire Post, Dorset Echo etc.

National Newspapers

Broadsheets – The Telegraph, Observer, Guardian, Financial Times etc.

Tabloids – Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, Daily Star etc.

Supplements – You Magazine, Style, Stella, Notebook, Observer Food Monthly etc. (These are magazines inside the weekend editions of national papers.)

Women’s glossies – monthly magazines focusing on a mix of news, fashion and lifestyle such as Woman & Home, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, In Style, Marie Claire, Red etc.

There is also online, social media, radio and TV.

For a free list of media, you can try sites such as www.mediauk.com and www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk. These contain a variety of useful information including readership stats, key staff members, personal email formatting and so on.

To do your own PR you need to be in the know, so sitting around reading magazines, watching TV, or scrolling through social media is a valuable way to spend your time. Try making notes while scouring the media such as - who are the journalists that keep reappearing, find what titles apply to your brand best and look for themes; is there an awareness day or an awards ceremony this month that applies to your business? Remember to always keep an eye on online media as well, coverage online could take the consumer to your website instantly. Once you get into the habit of doing this, you’ll never be shocked when news props up that you could’ve got in front of!

Media List

Once you are sure who your consumer is and what media you should be approaching it is time to create a media list. This should include specific and up-to-date contact information for key journalists, bloggers, social media influencers and editors across print, online, blogs, radio and TV.

 Organisation is key when creating your bespoke list. Here’s some tips on what to include in your list –

·         Include the type of medium – magazine, newspaper, radio etc

·         Frequency – daily/weekly/monthly/bi-annual

·         Readership or audience numbers

·         Specific contact details for each journalist or editor and their regular slots or segments

·         Job title (editor/features writer/sportswriter etc.)

·         Extras - You could also include a column or tab for any other notes as you go forward, such as how and when they prefer to be contacted, recent topics they’ve covered etc.

Finding the details of the journalist can be tricky, below are just some ways you can do this –

·         Look at the journalist’s name/names in the relevant publications

·         Look at the credits of TV shows for researchers/producers

·         Googling contact sites for specific TV channels such as ITV will give you access to valuable information.

·         Response Source – with journalists continually moving around it can be hard to keep up. Response source has a ‘Media Bulletin’ segment where you can not the movement of journalists.

·         Contacting influencers is great as you can usually message them directly, try their website of their social media page.

·         To find a specific phone number, try calling the media outlets switchboard first, when you get through ask for the relevant journalist and gather their details from there.

Talking to journalists can be daunting to begin with, however in time it’ll get easier and you’ll find your flow. A few things to remember is that journalists are time poor, it’s unlikely they’ll monitor their voicemails, so don’t waste your time leaving a message. Keep an eye out for freelance journalists, they will most likely have their own websites and a personal email to contact them with.

Final tips and tricks

·         There’s no time like the present! Start compiling your media list now.

·         Don’t contact several members of the same outlet ‘just in case’ as they may think you are spamming them, and bin your email.

·         You’ll find it’s easier to find contacts for regional rather than national press. There are less staff, everyone knows everyone and they’re more likely to pick up the phone and are quicker to respond.

If you’re looking for global newspapers you may find this article helpful - https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/complete-index-of-newspapers-across-the-globe/

If you would like to find out more about how to find your consumer and create your media lists as well as how to do your own PR you can book onto our PR and Publicity Course on the 29th November at our Bournemouth offices - Sunny Bird PR, The Garden Studio, Pine Grange, Bath Road, Bournemouth, BH1 2PF

Follow this link to book your place!

Work Experience Week

Work experience is a key step in choosing the right career and we believe that it’s important to give students the chance to understand an office environment. As a company we are very keen on giving students experience as we understand it is essential for self-development and securing a job in the future. During National Work Experience Week, the SBPR team welcomed 14 year old Tom from Twynham School and 15 year old Louise from Bournemouth Collegiate. We asked them both to write a blog at the end of each day to see how they were finding agency life and here’s what they thought…

Tom’s Day 1 blog really showed how the SBPR agency  can make a valuable first impression “I found my first day really enjoyable with the access to free drinks supplied for you”, and the kitchen continued to strike a chord with Tom as on Day 3 he went on to explain that SBPR had ‘good kitchen facilities’. Luckily Tom was equally impressed with the rest of the office too “my first impression on Sunny Bird PR is that it is very bright and vibrant and very fun.” Louise also had a great first day: “My experience on the first day was wonderful, everyone was very welcoming and friendly, and the working environment was very happy and relaxed.”

Before the teens arrived, we reached out to brands via social media and invited them to send their teen products into the office for Tom and Louise to review live on the SBPR social channels. Companies all over the country jumped at the chance and before long SBPR HQ was inundated with books, beauty products, food and drink products for them to try and review.

Louise was very pleased with this task “I got a lot of freebies to review and try out which I think is awesome!”, Tom wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about the beauty products but discovered a silver lining: “I wrote a review for a lip balm I got,” he said “but I gave it to my girlfriend because I didn’t want it and she did.” While the lip balm wasn’t a hit with Tom, he did make a fashion statement in the office by wearing the Good Night Anti-Snoring Ring every day.

We have a team lunch every Wednesday and this week we took the whole team to Flirt Café in the centre of Bournemouth which was very well received! Tom flexed his new PR muscles and proved that he was already thinking like a PR Pro: “I had BBQ pulled pork nachos and 3 bowls of chips, this was very tasty, so I wrote a review of the café and posted it on Twitter to create good publicity.”

Another team activity that went down well was our SBPR team yoga sessions, we have these twice a week with the amazing Lillie. Louise was brave enough to join us and experience her first ever yoga session: “I took part in a yoga session that the team do on Thursday lunch time. I have never done yoga before and honestly it was so relaxing. I felt sleepy during it as the lights were off and we had this special oil on that smelt so good. I think I might take up yoga class once a week, I feel like it will help me with things like stress, exam pressure and just general life situations that aren’t too good.”

Tom and Louise had a great week with us at Sunny Bird PR and we really enjoyed having them with us in the office. Aside from lunch, drinking free coffee, and reviewing products, Tom and Louise did an impressive job in learning the fundamentals of PR. They both wrote engaging press releases, created brilliant social media posts, developed a strong understanding of media types and helped prepare for the Miss Dorset final by organising over 250 goody bags. We hope they learnt some valuable skills that they can take forward through school and in their future careers.  

Reaching Millions!

If you’ve been following us on social media over the last few months you’ll have seen that we’ve been running our ‘Reaching Millions’ PR and Publicity courses here at SBPR HQ, teaching local businesses how to do their own PR.

The idea came about after conversations with start-ups and small businesses that knew the importance of PR, but simply didn’t have the budget for a PR agency. Founder of Sunny Bird PR and creator of the courses, Sunny, understands first-hand the struggles of being a start-up with budget constraints from her experience launching her own fitness retreat brand.

“When I started New You Boot Camp, I had just £3,000 to spend on a website and equipment. I had no money for anything else; no advertising, no SEO, no PPC, no social media, nothing. The only thing I had was a knowledge of PR which I used to invite journalists and celebrities to come to the boot camp and publish their experiences. Through PR alone, my business became an overnight success and was recognised worldwide by clients, celebrities and the media.”

Sunny then went on to launch retreats across the UK and Europe turning over just under £1 million in the first year. The media attention she received was a crucial factor in the growth of the business.

The power of PR led Sunny to secure a book deal with renowned publisher, Collins & Brown and to launch retreats across the UK as well as in Spain, Portugal and Austria.

Knowing how PR can drive a new business forward, Sunny was keen to help other brands find their voice and share her knowledge with other starts ups and new businesses. She created the ‘Reaching Millions’ PR & Publicity course to help them harness the power of PR for themselves.

When carried out effectively PR can skyrocket small businesses to scale ups, helping to raise the profile of the brand, build credibility, drive sales and secure new customers. Media attention is an invaluable asset – especially if you want to scale, speak on stage, land book deals and be seen by millions.

The one-day workshop is designed to teach small businesses everything they need to do their own PR. Recognising the need for useful take-home tools, Sunny also gives everyone that comes on the course examples of real-life pitches, a press release template and their own top ten media contacts.

Here’s what some of the attendees of our last course had to say about their experience:

Our next course dates are as follows:

Bournemouth – Thursday 22nd November 2018, 1pm – 5pm

Bournemouth – Friday 25th January 2018, 1pm – 5pm

London – Thursday 29th November 2018, 1pm – 5pm

Pride Campaigns to be Proud of

If you haven’t spotted the rainbow flags flying across social media over the last few months, where have you been?! June marked the official “Pride Month” but up and down the country people have been celebrating for the whole summer, with Bournemouth Pride taking place last month.

We couldn’t help but get swept up in the excitement of Pride, so in true Sunny Bird PR fashion, here is a roundup of our favourite Pride campaigns!

Absolut Welcome all Flavours

Absolut have worked with Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity, for two years with both 2016 and 2017 seeing exciting campaigns for Pride Month. This year, the vodka brand took it one step further with a huge call to action. Not content with just wrapping London buses with the rainbow flag, Absolut also installed donation points in the back of every seat on two London buses.

Step onto any London bus and you’ll see the tops of everyone’s heads as they stare down at their smartphone. Absolut found a way to make this productive with a way for passengers to donate to Stonewall with just a tap of their phone.

Using insight, new technology and, of course, plenty of colour is what we believe made this campaign so effective. 

No Labels. Just Pride. With YO!

This is an interesting one. While most brands bandwagoning (or should that be pridewagoning?) on the Pride hype simply slap a rainbow effect upon their logos and branding, Japanese restaurant and Pride in London partner YO! have thrown out the whole lot from its High Street Kensington store, removing all insignia and labels from its storefront as part of its No Labels. Just Pride campaign.

The concept, which has also been rolled out onto YO!'s various digital channels, comes as response to recent research by Pride in London revealing that the LGBTQ+ community feel ‘over-labelled’. In removing all its branding, YO! hopes to initiate a much-needed conversation around not labelling people and will encourage the nation to celebrate what Pride is really all about.

Kisses at Heathrow

Last month, a very unique flag was flying over London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2, one made entirely out of rainbow-coloured kisses.

This crowd-sourced artwork was made possible by the kisses of over 6,000 international passengers passing through the UK's biggest airport. A choice of vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple lipstick was given to anyone interested enough in puckering up to a blank canvas needing a bit of tender love and care. Hey, we've all been there right?

This Heathrow Pride takeover also sees the airport logo receive a Pride makeover and many digital screens across the airport transformed into vibrant displays of rainbow colours.

Skittles Causes Controversy

Skittles, the official “taste the rainbow” candies ditched its signature rainbow of candy colours in favour of an all-white appearance for one reason: to honour June pride month.

The message on the back of the limited-edition bag read, “During Pride, only one rainbow matters. So we’ve given up ours to show support.”

However, the white bag and the white-only coating on the shelled fruity treats was considered a misstep that raised the issue of exclusion. Critics took to Twitter to share that they felt the new direction was inadvertently tone-deaf, rather than supportive of LGBTQ people, as the company intended.