Dairy Queen Pulls Guilt-Inducing Ad After Hearing What You (Yes, You) Thought of It

Just days after Dairy Queen debuted the first of a series of online ads guilt-tripping parents, the ice cream chain has decided to pull the entire campaign, USA Today reports.

In the ads, a choir of kids perform songs to the melody of familiar tunes, with lyrics that target areas of working parent guilt—like the feeling that you’re working too much and not spending enough time with your children—with the end goal of getting Mom and Dad to skip work to buy their kids Blizzards. The first ad, which the chain posted to its social media accounts, featured the following lyrics, sung to the tune of Frere Jacques: “Are you working? Are you working, Mom and Dad? Of course you are. Summertime’s a calling. Blizzard Treats are calling. But you’re gone, always gone. I’m spending more time with the neighbors than you. It’s true. But it’s not too late. You can still fix it. Skip some work. Hang with me.”

In a June 18 press release introducing the campaign, Dairy Queen stated the choir, indeed, was meant to invite and harmoniously guilt-trip parents to take a day off.

However, the ad came off as offensive to working parents, and received plenty of backlash on social media. One person wrote, “I’m sorry, isn’t it more important to keep a roof over your child’s head and provide things like health insurance and college savings? But we could trade all that for ice cream! Who wrote this, an 8-year-old?” Another wrote, “There’s enough shaming going around as is … Not to mention I ALREADY guilt myself every single day that my son goes to daycare so I can work and help provide the best life I can for him. Thanks, DQ. You official suck in my book now.”

Well, all that negative feedback did not go unnoticed. The ice cream chain has nixed the campaign all together, according to USA Today.

“The ad was not coming through as we intended. Our intent was to encourage families to take an opportunistic pause from work,” Dairy Queen spokeswoman Brii Bauer told USA Today‘s All the Moms. “Like, ‘Hey mom, stop checking your email.’ And surprise, let’s go get a Blizzard.” The spokeswoman, who is a working mom with three kids under the age of 7, continued, “Dairy Queen is about taking a light-hearted break and bringing families together. That is what our brand is built on. That makes us question the longevity of our campaign.”

That means the other ads they had planned to release won’t see the light of day, including one sung to the melody of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” With lyrics such as, “You’ve been working this whole summer. You’re just never home. You’ve been working this whole summer. You’re always glued to your phone. You don’t have to write that email. Forget those status reports. Wouldn’t you feel better at the pool in some shorts?” we think Dairy Queen made the right choice on ending this campaign.

Ice cream is an easy sell for people of all ages—and there are far kinder ways to get parents to buy some for their kids and for themselves.