Streets and its parent company Unilever are at it again, using an advertising company to make it seem like its new product is the result of a grassroots campaign, when in fact it is just a slick marketing campaign. In the past few days Streets has released the Golden Gaynetto, an ice cream that combines both a Golden Gaytime and a Cornetto, a follow-up to last year’s Golden Gaytime in a Tub, which was also promoted as an answer to a grassroots campaign. As Crikey reported at the time, it was anything but, with the instigators of the campaign employees of J Walter Thompson (JWT), a marketing company that has done campaigns for Unilever in the past.

The Facebook page from the Golden Gaytime in a Tub campaign no longer exists, but the Golden Gaytime page does, documenting the letter to advertising director Jesse James McIlroy (a former JWT employee now with Rabbit Content) confirming the new product. The new page lists four other former JWT employees and two other Rabbit Content employees as founders of the page. And many of our media outlets went along for the ride. News.com.au, Huffington Post, Mashable, Essential Kids and Pedestrian all reported the story as the company responding to an enthusiastic customer. Oddly, it was The Daily Mail that noted McElroy was an advertising director.