Britannia and Parle’s Pride Month ads fail to move beyond rainbow-washing

Britannia’s approach was notable for directly naming its competitor, Parle—a bold move that transformed the campaign into a conversation about potential industry-wide collaboration on inclusivity.

Britannia and Parle's Pride Month print ads | Photo: X

Two FMCG giants chose Pride Month to celebrate ‘inclusivity’ as they found their perfect match, right next to each other on the supermarket shelf. While their friendly banter did grab eyeballs on social media, it became more about the brands and less about Pride Month.

Britannia rolled out an ad—on the front page of the 23 June edition of The Times of India—titled “Flavours of Equality”. The print ad featured a rainbow-hued version of the brand’s Good Day cookie pack. 

Each colour of the rainbow flag was assigned a flavour—cashew, butter, pista, badam, chocolate, and fruit and nut.

But among the stacked Good Day packets, a space was deliberately left empty with the text reading: “Dear Parle Monaco. This space is all yours”—a nudge to their competitor Parle Products to join the campaign for LGBTQIA+ inclusion.

“If we can share a shelf, we can share a cause,” the text added.

Falling short

Britannia’s approach was notable for directly naming its competitor—a bold move that transformed what could have been a solo campaign into a conversation about potential industry-wide collaboration on inclusivity.

The tone, at least, attempted to strike a balance: part compliment, part cheeky banter.

By asking Parle to join the cause, Britannia invited a broader discussion on authentic corporate responsibility, and encouraged competitors to move beyond performative allyship and toward sustained action.

But, veteran PR and communications expert Dilip Cherian, regarded as India’s ‘Image Guru’, wasn’t really won over by the campaign.

“Britannia tried to tie its messaging to the ‘Good Day’ brand, suggesting that everyone deserves a good day. But if you’re truly championing a cause and hoping to position it as an industry-wide initiative, you can’t plaster your brand all over it,” he said.

“And by directly calling out Parle in the ad, Britannia narrowed the narrative to just one brand—Monaco.”

A strategic comeback

Parle, of course, responded.

The FMCG brand, too, published a print ad in response to Britannia’s invite. The ad showed a vertical stack of popular Parle products like Parle-G, Monaco, Hide & Seek, Krackjack and more in vibrant packaging. The message: “Dear Britannia, Happy to help you with this initiative. We at Parle have been proudly serving India’s diversity not just for one month, but every month, every day.”

While some social media users praised Britannia for the initiative, most sided with Parle in the banter.

“Always expect Parle to be so graceful,” said one of the users. Another wrote, “Ate with this one.”

“Parle gave a strong and commendable response to Britannia,” read one of the comments. 

According to Cherian, Parle’s comeback ad was also strategic—it showcased the brand’s broader portfolio, signaling that they’re not defined by a single product.

“The whole conversation drifted away from Pride Month and turned into a light corporate rivalry,” he said. “It became a battle between one company with a dominant product and another with a diverse lineup.”

Cherian added that Britannia could have placed more emphasis on the cause itself.

“A full-page ad means little if it isn’t supported by real action. And if the goal was brand promotion, well—this execution didn’t land particularly well,” he said.

(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)