Challenger cereal brand Surreal is leaning into criticism that its previous ad creatives ‘are just marketing for people who work in marketing’, with a series of provocative out-of-home posters.

No stranger to a disruptive campaign, Surreal has previously caused a stir by signing Dwayne Johnson, Serena Williams, Michael Jordan and Ronaldo for a tongue-in-cheek campaign.

The latest campaign was revealed today with a LinkedIn post warning scrollers to look away.

“If you DON’T work in marketing PLEASE DON’T READ THIS POST. THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

“This post is ONLY for people who work in marketing.”

Anyone who isn’t a marketer is firmly but politely encouraged to look away from the billboard ads, as we can see in one of the works which reads: “If you don’t work in marketing, please ignore this advert.”

Further posters depict both a marketing flow chart, an annotated ad and faux email that asks an imaginary person to “write a cereal advert that will only appeal to people who work in marketing.”

Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free

Sign up here to get the latest marketing campaigns sent straight to your inbox each morning

It’s an accusation that has been levelled at the cereal brand previously, thanks to it’s creative way of promoting the product.

The brand continued to explain its reasoning, saying that: “Whenever [Surreal] posts an advert on here, we always get comments saying ‘This is just marketing for people who work in marketing.’

“So, we’ve decided to do some marketing that is definitely just for people who work in marketing. If you work in marketing, please look at these adverts and then buy our cereal.”

What better way to hit back at the haters than to do exactly what they’re being accusing of doing – and with a certain panache to boot.

You have to be in on the joke to get this one, so it’s absolutely clear that this campaign has been designed by marketers, for marketers.