PR winners and losers review – November 2025

It’s time for our monthly PR winners and losers review, where we applaud those who pulled off a fresh PR masterstroke and those who have had a PR stinker.

Staying Fresh

Earthshot Prize in the spotlight (With help from Prince William)

At a time when climate change scepticism seems to be growing, the annual Earthshot Prize restores confidence that amazing things are being done to protect our planet.

This year’s winners included projects to create clean air zones in Columbia’s capital Bogota, a global ocean treaty initiative that will preserve marine life, and an initiative to protect one of South America’s most important ecosystems – the Atlantic Forest.

Of course, it helps that the Earthshot Prize was founded by Prince William who showed up to sprinkle some royal fairy dust and meet the prize winners at a ceremony in Rio. The event generated a huge amount of global media coverage at a time when both our planet (and arguably Britain’s Royal Family) most needs it.

Kevin the Carrot pops the question

Once again, we’ve been treated to an enormous range of Christmas campaign launches from the big retailers. Many, including John Lewis’s 2025 offering, tapping into 90s music nostalgia to strike a chord with viewers of multiple generations. How many times will Alison Limerick’s Where Love Lives have been played on Spotify in the last few weeks?

However, we must doff our cap to Aldi, whose 2025 Christmas campaign has given us yet another chapter in the now long-running story of their plush toy mascot Kevin the Carrot and his family.

How to keep the story fresh? Well, everybody loves a good wedding, don’t they? Devised by McCann Manchester, this year’s Aldi Christmas advert is set over multiple parts and inspired by festive favourite film Love Actually. It sees Kevin proposing to long-term partner Katie. And, after a few mishaps along the way, including a polar stag do and a missing ‘veg-istrar’, the pair finally tie the knot to Kevin’s rendition of Love is All Around. Superb!

Gone Stale

Gaucho’s carbon offsetting row leads to ‘greenwashing’ accusations

Steakhouse group Gaucho got into a row with its former CEO and modern slavery charity Not For Sale over an unpaid invoice for carbon offsetting work carried out by the charity in 2024.

The Times reported how the £60,000 invoice had gone unpaid due to a decision by Gaucho’s new leadership to “pursue a different carbon strategy”. Gaucho also said it was “not aware of any formal arrangement” with the charity.

However, this was quickly refuted by former top boss CEO Martin Williams who released a statement saying he had personally emailed the new CEO Baton Berisha in June this year “to inform them of the relationship, confirming that the board of directors had approved a charity partnership with ‘Not For Sale’.”

Whatever the agreement may or may not have been, the optics of a business going back on an ESG commitment under new leadership aren’t great. Especially, as Gaucho has been known for being one of the most sustainable restaurant chains around.

Sky Sports’ female-focused TikTok channel misses the mark

The launch of Sky Sports’ new female-targeted TikTok account, named Halo, was scrapped just a few days after launch after fans labelled it “patronising” and “sexist”.

The channel, an attempt to attract a younger female audience and champion female athletes, was described by the broadcaster as the “lil sis” of Sky Sports when it launched earlier in November.

However, it drew criticism and derision for its use of pink and peach colours and Barbies. A post was labelled by one user as “one of the most insanely patronising and misogynistic activations I’ve seen from a brand” while another commenter said “Women don’t need a dumbed down version of sports…”

Credit to Sky Sports though for quickly admitting it had got it wrong and pulling the channel, releasing a statement to say “We’re learning and remain as committed ad ever to creating spaces where fans feel included and inspired.