We just launched our fourth issue of the Applecore newsletter, Interactions. It's filled with lots of tips and tricks for navigating the tricky terrain of businesses online and off, including learning opportunities and workshops. The central theme of this issue is passion and energy, and how the two work together to guarantee the output of your very best self. The topics this month:
The campaign, called “Whopper Sacrifice,” took the form of a Facebook application. In exchange for dropping ten Facebook friends, the ruthless user would get a coupon for a free Whopper. It was a cute, funny way to plump up Burger King’s brand, and more importantly, get their product in the hands of would-be customers.
But of course, that’s not the whole story. The campaign was taking off—a total of 233,906 users found themselves on the Whopper chopping block—when a little hitch appeared.
A key point of the campaign rested on informing the dropped friend that they had been “sacrificed” for the sake of a Whopper. Well, that was a clear breach of Facebook’s “de-friending” policy, which allows users to cull their friends list without fear that their former pals would be notified.
by J. Butler, Content Development Specialist
Is there really no such thing as bad publicity?
A few weeks ago, the internet was buzzing with one tale of social media gone horribly awry. The story became notorious almost instantly: Motrin, manufacturer of painkillers, was at the center of the controversy, with a well-armed, plentiful group of consumers opposing them: mothers.
It began with a simple 30-second spot and a handful of print ads over the course of one weekend. Motrin, aiming for tongue-in-cheek clever, was sympathizing with the joys (and aches) of being a new mother: namely, the backache, muscle pain and headaches associated with carrying your child around in a sling instead of in a stroller or pram—often called ‘baby-wearing.’ While their message was sincere (“we feel your pain, let us help”), their approach proved too glib for so sensitive a topic: the message that emerged was “attachment parenting is trendy and tedious.”
As the video started circulating the internet, and almost as soon as blogging moms saw it, a powerful reaction began to brew. The ad, clearly intended as sly, harmless fun, was instead hitting a nerve. Calling baby-wearing a “supposedly” good bonding method, the ad implied that one of its chief benefits was making the wearer look like “an official mom.”
Many viewers thought it disrespectful to parents, and condescending to child-rearing. These outraged parents took to the streets of the information highway and protested loudly, on very public venues such as their blogs, Twitter, and YouTube. They began a thread on Twitter (#motrinmoms), collected the complaints and turned them into a YouTube video that had nearly 21,000 views within a handful of days. In other words, they got organized—and got themselves heard.
Source: Web Strategist
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