MANILA — Jollibee’s holiday advertising campaign has drawn sharp criticism from Alfamart executives, who accused the fast-food giant of crossing boundaries by intruding into private digital spaces.

Alfamart Chief Operating Officer Harvey Ong took to LinkedIn to express frustration over Jollibee’s Christmas-themed ads appearing on Viber chats. “Each time I typed CHRISTMAS on my Viber, the Jollibee logo would appear afterwards. For us, it was unwanted, excessive and intrusive. Was the brand trying to make Jollibee synonymous to CHRISTMAS?” Ong wrote. He added, “The bigger issue was not the message. It’s the location. They should have stayed off private space. No brand has the right to be a part of private conversations. Period.”

Ong’s remarks quickly gained traction online, with netizens echoing concerns about brands overstepping boundaries in digital marketing. Many users described the ads as “annoying” and “intrusive,” questioning whether companies should be allowed to embed themselves into personal messaging platforms.

The backlash escalated when Alfamart’s top leadership weighed in. The Alfamart CEO publicly slammed Jollibee, calling the campaign “a violation of consumer trust” and warning that aggressive marketing tactics risk alienating loyal customers.

The controversy highlights growing tension between creative brand engagement and consumer privacy. While Jollibee has long been celebrated for its festive campaigns that resonate with Filipino families, critics argue that this year’s strategy blurred the line between public advertising and private communication.

Marketing experts noted that the incident serves as a cautionary tale for companies seeking to leverage digital platforms. “Brands must know their limits. No matter how beloved they are,” Ong stressed.

As of press time, Jollibee has not issued an official statement addressing the backlash.

Did Jollibee Cross the Line?

Holiday ads are meant to feel warm. Familiar. Welcome. But there is a point where presence becomes intrusion, and marketing crosses from clever into invasive. The backlash surrounding Jollibee’s Christmas campaign suggests that many consumers believe that line may have been crossed.

Private messaging platforms are not billboards. They are personal spaces where conversations unfold without expectation of brand participation. When an advertisement appears uninvited in that setting, intent matters less than impact. The question is no longer about creativity. It is about consent.

Jollibee is not a small brand testing the limits of digital reach. It is one of the country’s most powerful and beloved corporations. With that stature comes responsibility. The bigger the brand, the greater the obligation to understand boundaries and respect them. Influence does not grant access to every space where people exist online.

This incident exposes a growing problem in digital marketing. As platforms become more integrated into daily life, brands are tempted to follow users everywhere. The logic is simple. If people are there, ads should be there too. But that logic ignores an essential truth. Not all spaces are public just because they are digital.

The criticism from Alfamart executives resonated because it voiced what many users quietly felt. Discomfort. Fatigue. A sense that something personal had been interrupted. That reaction should matter more than impressions or reach metrics. Trust, once strained, is harder to rebuild than brand recall.

Marketing thrives on relevance, not omnipresence. A campaign does not become iconic by appearing everywhere. It becomes effective by knowing where not to appear. The absence of an official response only deepens the conversation. Silence, in moments like this, reads less like restraint and more like avoidance.

This controversy should prompt brands to pause and ask harder questions. Just because a placement is technically possible, does that make it acceptable? Just because users can tolerate it, does that mean they should have to?

If companies want loyalty, they must respect limits. Otherwise, even the most familiar brands risk becoming unwelcome guests in spaces that were never theirs to occupy.