What to Know
We really are living in dark times with a monumental baby brand like Frida falling under heavy scrutiny. To be fair, it’s because of what some marketing pros clearly saw as clever wording on packages. But what they saw as clever, parents saw as offensive. Then, mainstay baby brand Safety 1st entered the chat, and shared its own cheeky response to the backlash that Frida has dealt with.
The issue people suddenly have with Frida is that boxes for some products have adult-themed one-liners like “how about a quickie” in reference to a thermometer for babies. However, it does get a little dark.
In one video on TikTok, a user shared a screenshot of a since-deleted Frida post where, in the caption for an Instagram post about a rectal thermometer, it said, “The closest your husband’s gonna get to a threesome.”
@safety1st_official Baby care doesn’t need to be loud. It needs to be reliable. Trusted in millions of homes for over 40 years, our job has always been simple: protect babies and support parents. 💛 #babycare #sickdayessentials #motherhood #thermometer ♬ White blank page Mumford and sons – ⋆｡𖦹🦎m a r e k s
Safety 1st was quick with a response to the Frida controversy.
With the controversy surrounding Frida and the inappropriate adult references with products that parents are apparently very much not into, Safety 1st made sure to remind everyone it’s here and ready to be your fave again. The TikTok account for Baby 1st shared a video with a reminder about the baby products it offers and wrote on the screen, “We’ll stay in our lane: helping babies.”
The caption for the Safety 1st post on TikTok said, “Baby care doesn’t need to be loud. It needs to be reliable. Trusted in millions of homes for over 40 years, our job has always been simple: protect babies and support parents.”
You can’t tell me this wasn’t directed at Frida.
It certainly helped the brand that is Safety 1st, a longtime source for parents that is kind of hard to ignore anyway.
“Safety First addressing the issue before the original company speaks volumes,” one user commented on the TikTok video.
“Yes. No innuendos needed, just happy healthy babies,” another shared.
Another innuendo that a Frida product had prior to this included “tap that gas” on a product meant to help babies with gas. It’s a tricky situation, because clearly, only parents are going to read the actual packaging. Then again, is it totally appropriate to have this kind of language in relation to something that is used for infants? There’s a weird gray area here that’s hard to find.
“Thanks for not sexualizing babies,” someone else commented on the post that Safety 1st made on its TikTok account.
Others have questioned how serious this whole issue really needed to be prior to this. But, judging by the claims from parents who are ready to ban Frida in their households, the marketing ploys on packaging really weren’t for them, apparently.
ALSO READ: Frida Baby Backlash Grows After Viral Video Flags Disturbing Ad Language
