When you hear the words “me too,” the first thing you probably think about is the #MeToo movement that was started in the fall of 2017, when woman in Hollywood started coming forward with their claims of sexual harassment. That movement quickly spread to all arenas of life, from politics to the professional workplace to the streets.
But this understanding of “me too,” may also be the reason a hummus and falafel business in the UK has seen a recent decline in sales.
“We haven’t got a definitive answer on this, but we are 90 percent sure that our name is not something anyone wants to put on the shelf,” Ramona Hazan, founder of the vegetarian food line “MeToo!”, told The Guardian.
Hazan now says she plans to rethink her company’s name to distance it from the social media campaign.
“It’s not as though we’re Coca-Cola and could turn around and go, ‘Guys, stop using my name,’” Hazan said. Initially, she wondered if it would be a good idea to align her brand with the movement, but realized it might not be a good idea.
“I thought, what happens if we really jump into this and use it as a marketing tool? We’re a female-owned business: ‘MeToo! For #MeToo.' But we didn’t want to benefit our business on the back of other people’s suffering," she said.
Hazan founded “MeToo!” 14 years ago, long before the hashtag movement took off. She says her business’ name is a reference to memories from her younger days when she, the youngest of three children, desired to be included in family games. She often found herself crying to her siblings, “Me too!”
If it turns out that people aren’t buying “MeToo!” because of the “hashtag movement” then these people clearly haven’t realized this brand has been around for over a decade.
At this moment, Hazan is not sure what she'll rename her company, but says it'll be something "a little bit more straightforward."