The Royal Baby Bandwagon.


The most irritating byproduct of Kate Middleton expecting another baby is the shameless promotional tie-in.

It was the same the first time around. No sooner was her pregnancy announced, or Prince George born, than scores of companies leapt on the bandwagon. Marketing consultants across the UK rubbed their hands together with glee at the prospect of not having to burn brain cells thinking of an imaginative way to promote their product. They only had to stick the words ‘ROYAL BABY’ at the top of their press release for their work to be done.

My favourite examples are the ones that don’t even attempt to assimilate the story. Take this email I received last year, from the rail company London Midland:


That subject must have taken milliseconds to come up with. Why did they feel the need to make the connection? People will still travel by train, regardless of a change to the line of royal succession. News of an 8% discount was enough of a reason to warrant the mail out.

Today, news broke of baby number two, to much the same affect. A quick search of the royal baby hashtag on Twitter brings out a string of thinly-veiled adverts from the likes of River Island, Pizza Express, Moonpig and more. Anyone would think a woman had ever been impregnated before.



Before long, some smart alec will write a blog about it too. Oh shit.


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