Tuesday, 23 March 2010

The Facebook Nestle Mess: When Social Media Goes Anti-Social

Thanks to Facebook and other social media channels, the Nestle Company has an enormous public relations mess on their hands. The question is, can they further use social media to fix the problem? Other downtrodden companies such as Toyota and various airlines are embracing social media channels in hopes of repairing their current poor image. Unfortunately, Nestle’s social media embrace is being more than spurned by consumers; it’s also drawing large quantities of vitriolic comments, viral video parodies, animated parodies of the company’s reaction to the reaction, and so on.

The gist of the situation is that environmental protection group Greenpeace, who are known for their unorthodox and sometimes heavy-handed ways of bringing attention, created a parody video (but it’s somewhat gory, not funny) on YouTube of Nestle’s KitKat candy bar product. The video suggests that the production of a key ingredient, palm oil, helps further the destruction of rainforests, which in turn threatens endangered species such as the Orangutan. Greenpeace says that the Paradise Forests in Sumatra in particular are suffering a record-breaking deforestation rate.
Nestle reacted by requesting that youTube take it down. Viewer comments suggest that it was taken down, but that hasn’t stopped the video from reappearing on multiple video sharing sites, in multiple copies. This sharing of the video is making it go viral.

In addition to the Greenpeace video, there’s an animated parody of Nestle’s reaction. In it, two animated characters (using xtranormal.com’s web software) pretend to be Nestle employees and talk about how they’ll get the Greenpeace video removed by citing copyright violation. (In truth, their trademark has been used in the Greenpeace video without permission, so this isn’t really a copyright issue, as far as I know.) Now, there are parody logos popping up that look like Nestle’s KitKat(tm) packaging but replace the brand name with the word “killer”.
Now if that’s not enough for Nestle, consumers are attacking them on their Facebook Page. The 140+-year-old Swiss-based company’s Page may have over 93K fans (at this writing), and some may be legit, but many people are joining just to voice their opposition, reminding people of past Nestle controversies, namely their breast milk substitutes. CNET’s The Social blog has a screen snap of the past comments on the Nestle Facebook Page.
With an increasing number of companies using social media, especially Facebook Fan Pages, to interact with consumers, it’s important to get it right. There’s an obvious lesson here for companies: if you do something wrong and people attack you in social media, being defensive gets you nowhere. There might be a lot of apathy about many important worldwide concerns, including the environment, but the social media makes it easy for those who like to be vocal to actually be vocal and instigate concern. Grassroots movements even inspire efforts such as CO2 Neutral Profile, a Facebook application that lets users neutralize their carbon emissions said to be generated from daily use of Facebook. Once grassroots concern goes viral, social media can turn anti-social as far as your business is concerned.

@'Crosspollinate'

The Shock Doctrine (Naomi Klein and Alfonso Cuaron)

Stereolab - Wow & Flutter

Did the CIA test LSD in the NYC subway system?

Lique Schoot - Pillow Portraits

HERE

Home movies of William S. Burroughs in Lawrence

Burroughs with Lawrence friends, Patti Smith, Steve Buscemi, Allen Ginsberg, and various cats. Filmed by Wayne Propst, Pro-Prop, Inc. Edited by Michelle Tran.

China media accuse Google of violating promises

There has to be an easier way to get your kicks...

This is the kind of thing that you just can't invent:

"After describing some of the many psychological theories about the differences between perversions and non-perversions, Salton [the author of the study] in essence takes a cold shower and shakes his head. "[I will] attempt neither to disprove nor to contradict the theories cited in the preceding sections," he writes. "Instead, I hope to augment and combine them."

He attempts this by telling the story of a patient who reluctantly came under his care: "The patient, whom I will call 'Alan', is a 28-year-old male of Gypsy descent. He was referred by the criminal court following repeated convictions for stealing complimentary bathrobes from the rooms of upscale hotels."

Alan's lawyer repeatedly "was able to plea bargain probation and psychological counselling, rather than incarceration, when it was determined that Alan did not take the bathrobes to sell them, or to steal whatever contents a guest might have left inside. Instead, he brought them home in order to masturbate into them. He would then discard the bathrobe when it no longer held his sexual interest, thus requiring him to stalk and steal again."

Alan also had a goal to perform Karaoke in a bar in all 50 American states.

In short, Alan has some problems."
Marc Abrahams @'TheGuardian'

How dangerous is mephedrone?

Presented by Jon Dennis, produced by Andy Duckworth and Phil Maynard

Today we focus on mephedrone, the drug Lincolnshire police have linked with the tragic deaths earlier this week of two teenage boys in Scunthorpe. Reporter Robert Booth recounts what happened to Louis Wainwright, 18, and Nicholas Smith, 19.

We also hear from an (anonymous) man who's used mephedrone. He describes its effects.
Joining our studio panel is Martin Barnes, chief executive of Drugscope, and a member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which meets on 29 March to discuss a recommendation that mephedrone be banned.
Niamh Eastwood, deputy director of Release, says the sacking of Professor David Nutt from the council led to a delay in the assessment of mephedrone's dangers.
Alan Travis, the Guardian's home affairs editor, explains how the drug is made and the dangers that if it's banned it will simply be replaced by a similar compound.
Reporter Adam Gabbatt looks at how internet users are discussing the drug and its possible prohibition.

Like all drugs, miaow-miaow should be legal

George Carlin - The American Dream "You have to be asleep to believe it."

As we were saying...

Pete Doherty 'arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs'

Pete Doherty: Sources say he has been arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs. Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/PA

The singer Pete Doherty has been arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs following the death of the heiress Robin Whitehead at a flat in east London, sources said today.

The 31-year-old Babyshambles frontman was one of four people questioned following the death of the 27-year-old film-maker.

The body of Whitehead, the granddaughter of the Ecologist magazine founder, Teddy Goldsmith, was discovered at a flat in Hackney on 24 January after paramedics answered a 999 call. She died from a suspected drug overdose.

Doherty was arrested in connection with the inquiry on Friday.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said: "A 31-year-old man was arrested on 19 March on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs.

"He was bailed to return on a date in April pending further inquiries."

Two other men, aged 41 and 28, were arrested on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug.

The 41-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman, were questioned on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The woman is suspected of allowing her premises to be used for the supply of controlled drugs.

Doherty, a friend of Whitehead, said he was "shocked and saddened" by her death.

She had completed a documentary film, The Road To Albion, about his former band, the Libertines, and spent a lot of time with him.

Her mother, Dido Whitehead, is a cousin of Jemima Khan and Zac Goldsmith, and her father is (/was - Mona) the 1960s filmmaker Peter Whitehead.

@'The Guardian'