DA SIĘ (zachowywać autentycznie i jednocześnie etycznie)? Biedronka uważa, że nie, a Dr Pepper pokazuje, że DA SIĘ.
Can big brands focus on authenticity in 2026, and at the same time behave ethically? It turns out they can, but it requires a lot of class, which – as a fresh social media situation shows – one of the biggest players on the Polish market lacks. Today we will discuss two cases – one from January and the other from February 2026 and we will try to show the difference between parasitism and a partnership approach to virals that users publish online.
Let’s first analyse the case from across the Ocean, straight from the United States. An amateur TikTok video by user Romeo Bingham (@romeosshow) went viral there in January, in which the girl sings a jingle she invented and tags the Dr Pepper brand, proposing a collab. At the beginning of February, when I am writing this material, the video already has 128 million views under the author’s original post alone, it has generated over 12 million likes and 114 thousand comments there.
Dr Pepper did not quietly exploit her reach, on the contrary – the company showed class by proposing a collaboration to the girl. They paid for the license to use her work in their advertisement, which quickly became a viral. Rebecca (because that is the creator’s real name), officially became the ambassador of this campaign, which strengthened the brand’s authentic and ethical message.
It is also worth adding that in the comments under the girl’s video, many companies and famous brands appeared, which in more or less serious ways proposed a collaboration to her.
We are dealing with a completely different situation on our own, Polish backyard. At the end of January 2026, a post appeared on the Pomysłodawcy profile (https://www.facebook.com/PomyslodawcyPL), reviewing Szynka Roztoczańska from Biedronka. For context – on Kamil’s profile (that is the name of the author of the PomysłodawcyPL page), educational content often appears, exposing the true ingredients of products behind various labels, and promoting conscious and healthy eating.
In his characteristic way, the profile author examined that the Biedronka product has a very simple composition (boneless pork, salt, natural aromas and a bit of butter), and is also free from carcinogenic nitrites (E250). In addition to checking the label, Kamil deepened the research by contacting the manufacturer incognito, which as a whole gave his review authenticity, professionalism and usefulness – which is exactly what the audience expects. Both of his posts generated over 8 million views, which in terms of advertising equivalent for Biedronka (emphasizing that it was not an official collaboration) gives us from tens to hundreds of thousands of zlotys. It is also worth emphasizing that this is not the only positive review of Biedronka products, being a fully substantive and educational form of communication, which he marked with a slogan that is a kind of “quality stamp”: “DA SIĘ? DA SIĘ!” (IT IS POSSIBLE? IT IS POSSIBLE!).
In the last week, Biedronka issued its leaflet for the period from February 2 to 7. The author of the review was on holiday in Brazil at the time. On page 41, next to a photo of Szynka and Schab Roztoczański, a huge inscription appeared: “DA SIĘ? DA SIĘ!”. The coincidence is striking to say the least: they used the identical slogan that became a symbol of Kamil’s viral. Furthermore, the leaflet emphasizes “only 4 ingredients”, which was the main substantive point of the education conducted by the creator, and the campaign was launched just a few days after Kamil “enchanted” the discounter’s cold cuts for millions of Poles.
The creator of the Pomysłodawcy profile does not hide his disappointment. In his post from February 1, written while on holiday, he points to the concept of market parasitism – exploiting someone else’s effort, energy and hard-earned reputation for one’s own commercial purposes without the creator’s consent.
On the Biedronka website, we can find information about the values they are guided by (https://onas.biedronka.pl/releases/wartosci). We can see truisms there about being ethical, doing the right things and others, which the chain clearly does not apply. The screen, just like paper, accepts everything, but the lack of consistency in following values results in a lack of authenticity.
We asked both parties for a comment – we wrote to the author of the PomysłodawcyPL profile, and also sent an official inquiry to the Jeronimo Martins Polska press office. The author replied to us that he does not rule out taking legal action in connection with the situation, but not earlier than after returning from holiday. Biedronka had not contacted him by the day of our conversation. Apparently, the chain is avoiding any contact, because no one replied to our inquiry (after sending the official notification, we called to ask if our message had arrived, but no one picked up the phone, and we received no reply to our text messages either).
This case shows a pathology in the relationship between the corporation and the creator in Poland. Biedronka proved that it “is possible” to make cold cuts without chemicals, but apparently it is still “not possible” to conduct ethical marketing based on respect for the partners thanks to whom a given product becomes a sales hit. If we are to review this – we definitely do not recommend it. 😉
