P&O Cruises has distanced itself from P&O Ferries in a new advertising campaign after the latter received a slate of bad press when it fired 800 staff via Zoom.
At the end of last month, P&O Ferries made massive lay-offs and then planned to replace those staff with cheaper outside workers.
A captain of a ship then staged a mutiny; locking down his ship and refusing to let anybody on board.
The ordeal was a disaster for P&O Ferries, but P&O Cruises, which is not related to the former, found itself on the receiving end of second-hand backlash.
In response to this, P&O Cruises put out a large ad stating that it was not related to P&O Ferries.
“Our names may both begin with P&O,” the ad read.
“But that’s where the similarity ends.
“We are separate organisations and have been for 20 years.”
— P&O Cruises (@pandocruises) March 25, 2022
However some believed that this was a waste of the cruise lines money and criticised the ad.
Wow. This is… well, no one cares. So that was a waste of time and money.
— Vikki Ross (@VikkiRossWrites) April 17, 2022
Agreed but it’s a bad brief. No benefit
— scott sherrard (@scottsherrard) April 17, 2022
They started running a YouTube ad with the same message within days of the P&O Ferries debacle. Feels like the ad was not just dictated by the client but directly from the boardroom table. Suspect the effect on their bookings within the first few days must have been catastrophic.
— John Newton (@johnjnewton) April 17, 2022
The ad that Twitter user John Newton is referring to came out around the same time as the other ad.
This is us, P&O Cruises. pic.twitter.com/glWbVFoC2r
— P&O Cruises (@pandocruises) March 25, 2022
Following P&O Ferries hiring new staff, which were partly recruited through Facebook and were told that they did not require any previous experience at sea to qualify for the job, maritime inspectors suspended many P&O ships due to safety concerns.
The company abruptly cancelled all sailings across the Dover-Calais route just before the busy Easter weekend.
