Meghan Markle’s New ‘Dad’ Message Backfires After Fans Trash ‘Worst Ever’ Father’s Day Promotion

Meghan Markle has sparked a fresh round of criticism after sharing a new Father’s Day marketing message with customers of her lifestyle brand As Ever, with social media users branding the Duchess of Sussex’s ‘say thanks to Dad’ breakfast idea the ‘worst ever’ promotion ahead of the celebration on Sunday, 21 June.

For context, Meghan Markle has been using her As Ever platform to push carefully styled home and food content, positioning the brand around warm family rituals and low-key luxury. This latest email newsletter, sent to subscribers in the run-up to Father’s Day, was meant to offer inspiration for how to spoil dads at home. Instead, it has ignited a mini culture war over what, exactly, fathers actually want to eat — and whether the Duchess has even the faintest clue.

The message, headlined ‘Say thanks to Dad’, urged customers to create a soft-focus, breakfast-in-bed moment using products from the As Ever range. In the email, Meghan suggested a tray laid out with ‘buttery, flaky croissant’ served with salted butter and a ‘swipe’ of the brand’s Strawberry Spread, alongside fresh fruit and a steaming cup of coffee or Herbal Lemon Ginger Tea.

‘Breakfast served bedside with a warm smile and a loving hug is a simple way to remind those we love how special they are,’ the newsletter read, pitching the scene as an easy Father’s Day win rather than a full English marathon.

Meghan Markle’s As Ever Idea Branded ‘Worst’ Father’s Day Promotion

The pushback began almost immediately. On X, the account Royal News Network, which regularly targets Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, slammed the Father’s Day idea in a post to followers, calling it ‘the worst idea for a Father’s Day promotion’.

‘This is the worst idea for a Father’s Day promotion, but it’s Meghan Markle’s As Ever, so it’s par for the course. This reeks and screams woman, not man,’ the account wrote, arguing that the spread looked more like a dainty brunch for Instagram than something most fathers would tuck into.

The same user went further, claiming that ‘the vast majority of the male population has zero interest in her slop’, a line that was swiftly picked up and shared by critics who see As Ever as over-styled and out of touch.

Plenty of replies lined up behind that view. One user complained that the Duchess’s newsletter lacked imagination, writing: ‘It is! Not a single creative cell in her blood. Why not show a real English Breakfast with tea, or home-made baked beans made with the honey?’ The jab not only dismissed the croissant-and-jam tableau as flimsy, but also suggested she should have leaned into something more traditionally British and hearty, especially given her royal past.

Another critic put it more bluntly: ‘If I put that in front of my husband, he would laugh and say what this s*** is.’ Others chimed in with similar anecdotes, insisting the men in their lives would not be impressed by what they saw as a light, curated plate of pastries and fruit.

‘My husband would not care for this,’ one user remarked, while another expanded on the point: ‘My husband’s idea of a Father’s Day breakfast is scrambled eggs, bacon, hash-browns/home fries and pancakes, not croissants and fake jam.’ A fifth piled on with a question that summed up the mood: ‘Wait, that is supposed to be breakfast for a man?’

It is, of course, hardly a scientific poll of male appetites. But the cluster of responses suggested a common irritation at what some saw as Meghan’s tendency to package everyday moments in a pristine, Pinterest-ready format that does not quite match real family life. The fact that the email was also trying to sell branded Strawberry Spread and Herbal Lemon Ginger Tea only sharpened the feeling that this was more about moving product than knowing dads.

A Carefully Crafted Meghan Markle Image Meets Messy Realities

The backlash sits within a broader pattern that will be familiar to anyone who has watched Meghan Markle’s public life over the past few years. Nearly every soft-focus gesture, from podcast monologues to recipe cards, is met with a matching wave of people eager to tear it down. Some of the criticism is measured, some of it veers into outright hostility, and this latest row is no different.

There has been no public comment from Meghan, Prince Harry or representatives for As Ever on the online reaction to the Father’s Day campaign. The newsletter itself reads like pure brand copy, with no acknowledgement of the wider scrutiny that comes with anything the Duchess attaches her name to.

Last year’s Father’s Day content was less commercial and more personal. Meghan shared a video of Prince Harry with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, and captioned it: ‘The best. Happy Father’s Day to our favourite guy.’ It was a straightforward family tribute, and while it hardly escaped criticism in some corners, it did not directly push a product.

This year’s approach, by contrast, drops Harry into the background and puts As Ever at the centre. The Father’s Day idea is framed around breakfast in bed, the Strawberry Spread and the rest of the pantry line. For fans who enjoy Meghan’s aspirational styling, it is just another cosy suggestion. For critics already primed to see everything she does as calculated, it looks like another overly polished attempt to monetise sentiment.

The truth probably sits somewhere in between: a celebrity-branded lifestyle platform pedalling a familiar fantasy of soft linens, flaky pastries and thoughtful gestures, colliding with followers who live in a world of sticky syrup, screaming toddlers and zero time. One group wants an elegant tray; the other wants bacon and hash browns. Neither is exactly wrong.

What is clear is that even a seemingly innocuous ‘say thanks to Dad’ email can turn into a wider referendum on Meghan Markle’s taste, authenticity and understanding of the people she is trying to reach. For a woman who once worked as a calligrapher and now runs a lifestyle brand, that kind of judgement comes with the territory. It is also the sort of stuff a marketing team cannot tidy up with a swipe of strawberry jam.