New beauty start-up on the scene Fussy has apologised to Unilever boss Alan Jope with a giant olive plant after likening its products to the conglomerate’s via its Instagram.
The sustainable, deodorant brand received a letter from the Dove and Tresemmé owner’s HQ to say that its adverts were “misleading”, according to a video posted on YouTube by the brand.
In response, founder Matt Kennedy took an unconventional route to apologise to the beauty Behemoth’s CEO and delivered the plant to the company’s headquarters with a note reading ‘Our Bad’.
Kennedy, who is CEO of Fussy, which he helped establish in January 2020, also took to LinkedIn to express his and his company's apologies.
“Usually, when companies do something wrong they hide behind some statement that just about qualifies as an apology. Not us,” the post directed to Jope read.
“We messed up and we’re sorry.
“We posted some adverts online comparing our products to yours. That’s not on. We take back everything we said in them.”
He added: “Also, we’re sorry if anyone out there found these adverts misleading or deceitful in any way. This was not what we set out to do. And it’s not what we’re about.”
Jope commented on the post thanking Kennedy for the olive tree and said: “We’ll take good care of it.”
In a further expression of thanks to the business vetran, Fussy shoppers can use the code ‘ALANSALRIGHT’ to receive 10% off their order.