Uncommon challenges beauty standards in ‘oat dress’ follow up

Oats are appealing regardless of their flaws, and Quaker Oats and Uncommon are underscoring a wider message with a campaign that follows on from their London Fashion Week stunt.

Questionable dresses are nothing new. Lady Gaga famously wore one made of meat, while Bjork once donned a garment shaped like a dead swan.

Uncommon and Quaker made their addition to the outlandish dress genre with an ode to the humble oat. Quaker collaborated with TikTok influencer Lily Rose during London Fashion Week to debut a dress made entirely of porridge. This 'oat couture' piece, designed by the creative studio, playfully challenges traditional beauty standards by embracing imperfection.

The dress garnered significant attention. both on the streets and online, amassing over five million views across social media platforms. And now, the rationale for the stunt has become clearer in light of the 'Deliciously Ugly' campaign for Quaker Oats, aiming to highlight the wholesome appeal of its Oat So Simple sachets despite their unassuming appearance.

Passing on the love

As part of the campaign, Quaker has partnered with the National Trust and National Trust for Scotland to offer consumers a chance to win family day passes to various historic sites and natural reserves.

Shoppers purchasing promotional packs of Oat So Simple sachets can enter the competition, with a winner announced every two minutes between 7:00 and 9:00 AM, totalling 2,520 passes.

The 'Deliciously Ugly' campaign is running across various platforms, including out-of-home advertising, print, radio, social media, and digital channels, and is scheduled to continue until March 24, 2025.

Gabriella Kaas, senior account manager at Uncommon Creative Studio, said: “It has been an amazing experience working on the new Quaker Oats UK PepsiCo brand campaign alongside an amazing team. The new platform is based on the truth that ‘real’ doesn’t often look pretty, and that’s the same with Quaker Oats - they aren’t as colourful and trendy as other cereals, but that’s because it’s real food - unfiltered.”

Our take

Physical perfection still dominates the fashion world, although there’s certainly been a more inclusive bent to many campaigns of late, and less of a culture of idolatry. The ‘supermodel’, for example, is largely absent from the culture today.

Oats are an oddly apt candidate for celebrating our differences, and the long tradition of bizarre dresses continues unabated.