Sir Ian McKellen’s bereaved ‘nephew’ has decided to sell his Parklife tickets after the controversial ‘From Mum’ tweet.
Andy Leathley, 28, broke down in tears after receiving a text from ‘Mum’ to promote Parklife’s afterparty – his own mother Rachel died last year following a ten-year battle with illness.
He blasted Parklife mastermind Sacha Lord-Marchionne’s flippant tweet about feeling like ‘Marmite’ over it as the final straw behind his decision.
Parklife issued a text apology but angry revellers took to Twitter condemning the marketing ploy questioning if they were to get a fuller apology.
In response to complaints, Sacha tweeted: “So this is what it feels like to be a jar of Marmite #LoveItOrHateIt’ in response to complaints about the campaign.”
So this is what it feels like to be a jar of Marmite!! #LoveItOrHateIt
— Sacha Lord (@Sachawhp) May 13, 2014
@Sachawhp that’s all you’ve got to say?
— Christopher Bird (@ChrisGBird) May 13, 2014
@Sachawhp I don’t think marmite is as thoughtless and insensitive as your marketing team is.
— Will Gavin (@willgavin) May 14, 2014
Andy told MM that it was his remark that proved to be the final straw and settled his decision on whether or not to sell the tickets.
He said: “It was Sacha Lord’s Marmite comment that made me turn my back on the festival.”
RT: Selling 4 #Parklife Tickets for £500 if anyone’s interested, going for £140 per ticket minimum on Gumtree, will sell 2 for £260.
— The Wine Guy (@AndyTheWineGuy) May 22, 2014
Andy revealed to MM the anguish he felt when he saw the original message just over a week ago
He said: “She only died six months ago, so it’s still pretty raw. It was such a shock to me when I received the text, I just clammed up.”
“I thought it was someone playing a joke – it was strange that they were able to do this, to get into your phone and pass themselves off as your mum.”
“I was thinking about her already as [it was] her birthday and this just compounded things really.”
“It made a very bad day so much worse.”
Parklife have apologised for the message saying any offence caused was unintentional.
It read: “The Parklife Weekender issued a light-hearted marketing SMS message to customers in preparation for annual weekend festival next month.
“It was only intended as an irreverent way to engage with festival goers and was in keeping with the overall tone of the Parklife weekender.
“The organisers of the Parklife Weekender would like to apologise to those offended by the communication.”
The festival itself has already hit the headlines following the news that Kendrick Lamar has pulled out due to a ‘scheduling conflict’. New York rapper A$AP Rocky will take his place.
