Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimised by Valentines day advertising. Chances are if you've ever been single on the 14th of February then you too have had the experience of sitting on the tube and feeling oddly attacked by a contact-lens advert calling you out as you are peacefully going about your commute.
Perhaps it would fly in 2016, when Spotify proclaimed to the world in an advert ‘dear person in LA who listened to the “forever alone” playlist for four hours on Valentines day – u ok?’ But it’s 2019 and we have no truck for it anymore. Patronising Valentines day marketing feels fusty, antiquated and out of step with our current social climate, as everyone comes around to the idea that being single isn't a stigma, nor does it mean that you need to chorus Beyonce and mainline mojito's while screaming about how fantastic not being in a relationship is.
But it seems there are some brands still haven't picked up the memo. From the endlessly laboured efforts to make ‘Galentines day’ a thing (it’s not, and never will be nobody wants to go out on a weeknight in a sparkly dress in sub-zero temperatures guys) to the faux-Whatsapp group brand-banter, the annual commercial pilgrimage of brands to the Valentines day campaign is enough to give all of us who have ever been unnattached on the 14th of February PTSD. Which is probably why fintech brand Revolut's Valentines day campaign has been subjected to a timely savaging on social media over it's valentines day campaign.
Dismissed as 'tone deaf' by The Guardian the advert, which has debuted on the London Underground, is - quite embarrassingly - almost an exact replica of Spotify's equally-patronising 2016 campaign except it reads: 'to the 12,750 people who ordered a single takeaway last year "You okay hun?".
Dear Revolut: What exactly was the aim here? To shame the single contingent of the population and therefore ensure that they never again order a takeaway using your card? To remind us all that Revolut is collecting frankly creepy data about our lifestyle habits and that we are being stalked by our devices? We're just trying to get a Deliveroo in peace!
As you can imagine, Twitter has a lot to say about it. The ball was initially set rolling by financial writer and blogger Iona Bain whose Twitter thread dismantles everything that's wrong with the advert (and there's a lot).
Revolut - we're completely fine actually thanks, other than currently checking every GDPR agreement we've ever made. The question is: are U ok hun?