![]() You can’t make them go away you can’t even shout louder than them any more. The simple lesson which PR managers must learn is this: out there in the real world, there are people who don’t much like your brand – who’ll even make fun of it at times. ![]() Given the real Qantas PR’s track record, this may turn into an interesting cat-and-mouse chase - but while entertaining to onlookers, none of it will benefit the brand. ![]() Nicely illustrating what’s called the “ Streisand effect” of attempting to suppress the unsuppressable, new accounts and have already popped up in place of the suspended one (not to mention and - all fakes, too). New Qantas spoof Twitter accounts have sprung up. However much Qantas might dislike being the butt of jokes, such attempts at censorship will achieve precisely nothing, other than to further tarnish the company’s image. Other users did report that even more benign comments were removed, however.)Ĭhoosing Twitter as the platform for their promo activities, McDonald’s and Qantas didn’t have access to similar forms of censorship once unleashed, there was nothing they could do to stop the barrage of criticism. (A Westpac spokesman told The Conversation that the comments which were deleted had been “racist and offensive” and contravened its social media policies, and pointed to substantial number of negative comments which remain on its Facebook page. ![]() The bank’s initial response was simply to delete a number of them - the digital equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears, going “La-la-la, I can’t hear you.” When Westpac lifted its interest rates the other day, out of step with the Reserve Bank of Australia, this resulted in a fair number of negative, sometimes angry, comments on its official Facebook page. FacebookĪnd it’s how these brands respond to such negative publicity that reflects most clearly on their corporate integrity. Users of Westpac’s Facebook page allege some negative comments were deleted. Many Twitter users would have found out about the #qantasluxury or #McDstories campaigns not because of the companies’ own promotional efforts, but only because of the negative publicity they resulted in. In a social media environment, though, brands are conversations (to echo the Cluetrain Manifesto) - it’s no longer possible just to shout at customers, because now they can answer back, and are sometimes able to do so at a volume which well surpasses that of the original message itself. However quickly we’d all reach for our remotes to mute the commercials, enough of them would seep through to gradually create a certain brand image. The problem for the flacks is that conventional PR has long focussed on a broadcast mode of message dissemination: they were able to repeat their messages unchallenged, ad infinitum, in print, on radio and TV, through outdoor advertising. If so, the social media response may serve as a useful reality check: customers aren’t the sheep they may appear to be. Perhaps these people really do buy their own PR hype - perhaps they truly, honestly believe that Coca Cola indeed “is it”, that McDonald’s diners are actually “lovin’ it”, that Qantas will always remain the “Spirit of Australia”, wherever it may be based. Did Qantas, for example, really expect that the negative press resulting from the months of its bitter and belligerent fight against its own workforce, and from its declared intention to move as much as possible of the airline to Asia, would not lead to a significant public backlash? It’s difficult to understand how the well-paid PR advisors behind such disasters could not have seen them coming.
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