On Friday afternoon, February 9, Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) CEO Sung Poblete (pictured) announced that she had spoken with Uber, and they will be editing out the part of their Super Bowl ad that referenced the peanut allergy. THANK YOU for listening, Uber, and taking steps to be more inclusive of the food allergy community! I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear this. And thanks to FARE for being our voice and advocate. A little bit of empathy and compassion goes a long way.
The food allergy community’s response to the original ad was swift and unified, making it clear that this kind of portrayal of people suffering from life-threatening food allergies is dangerous and not acceptable. My own LinkedIn post about it was featured by the LinkedIn News team to accompany its own article on the subject. It has since garnered over 16,500 impressions and multiple comments.
Removing that part of the ad before airing during the big game was a huge win! I didn’t have to warn my child with a severe peanut allergy about it. His friends, classmates, their families, teachers, and millions of others didn’t see it and think it’s okay to make fun of people with food allergies. I’m hopeful this will help us build partnerships in the future with Uber Eats and others, working together to make the world better and safer for those living with food allergies.
Spring Creek Consulting, LLC 