When Life Gives You Lemons, Turn them Into Marketing Gold… and Pass a House Bill

Texas, the Lone Star State, is the largest in the nation, and home to no fewer than ten professional sports teams. Also, home to a law that -until recently- made it a crime for children to run a lemonade stand.

You read that right. Before last summer, a child could be prosecuted under the law for selling curbside beverages. In 2015, police in Overton, Texas, shut down a lemonade stand put together by sisters raising money to take their father to a water park for Father’s day. Rude.

In response, Country Time Lemonade was quick to offer “Legal Ade” services to any kids who found themselves on the wrong end of the long arm of the law. The program offered to pay any legal fees arising from this classic form of young entrepreneurialism. The company set aside $60,000 for the program (peanuts for the parent company, Kraft Foods).

The major news outlets took immediate notice, running glowing stories about this campaign. The free media and attention quickly generated exponentially more in returns than if they would’ve just plopped down the 60-grand for standard marketing practices.

This endeavor was successful for a few different reasons.

• It was simple. The message was easy for people to grasp: “Kids are getting screwed over, and we’re standing up for them.” This concept didn’t go deep into the weeds as to how or why the law is ridiculous. Instead, it showed sad kids and how the company is giving them a giant bat to play ball against the boneheads who hit them with fines.
• Tone. The very concept of fining six-year-olds for running a lemonade stand in their driveway is ridiculous beyond words. It reeks of being arrogant and gives off a vibe that these government agents have so little power in life that they have to lord over children. The Country Time campaign plays right back at that vibe with a semi-serious tone. “Okay, you have the law on your side. Well, check out our legal dream team that’s fighting the good fight!” It was a fantastic approach to take that made people laugh, while still supporting the main assertation: Kids are getting the shaft, and we’re standing up for them.
• Strategic relevance. The idea here is to make the creative aspects of the campaign relevant to the product itself. In this case, we have a lemonade company sticking up for little kids selling lemonade. Had kids been getting shafted for selling cookies, the whole “Legal Ade” campaign wouldn’t have carried as much weight.

The good news is that last summer, Texas Governor Greg Abbott passed a bill in the Texas House, which reversed this ridiculous law. But it stands out as a great example of how creativity and circumstance propelled a brand into the public consciousness in a very positive way. If you see an opportunity to serve your customers when a situation like this emerges, give it a shot!