Monday, June 07, 2010

Power to consumers

Social media is everyone's favorite buzz word at the moment. However, some companies had to learn the hard way what it really means that consumers have the power. These are my favorite social media disasters:

1. Nestle and the rain forest
After Greenpeace alleged that some Nestle products caused illegal deforestation of the rain forest protests were launched on its Facebook page and Twitter account. Some news on it here: http://jamiebeckland.com/2010/03/really-nestle-really-its-not-2006/. The company responded by threatening to ban the use of other logos on its page. After that move comments on the site turned mainly sour. Ouch! http://www.facebook.com/#!/Nestle

2. Pepsi helps to pick up chicks
Pepsi launched an iPhone app that helped guys to categorize women and then choose the appropriate pick-up line. You can see some of the reaction here: http://mashable.com/2009/10/12/amp-before-you-score/. Pepsi in the end withdrew the app and apologized on Twitter.

3 The famous United blunder
Prof. Kagan mentioned the 'United breaks guitars' song last class. It is really funny. Check it out. The song by now has 8,641,920 views on YouTube.

No comments: