Food for thought Friday - Nestle, know when to fold'em

Since its been...oh months since I've posted, and I am all hopped up on the goofballs (aka the warm afterglow of a successful campaign presentation) so I thought I'd share a little food-for-thought on this fine Friday. From AdFreak, this article about Nestle's desire to put out a fire with gasoline is a nice lesson on how not to respond to criticism.

"The brand's representatives have also lost their patience a few times, snapping back with comments such as this one, which simply must be read in its entirety: "So, let's see, we have to be well-mannered all the time but it's perfectly acceptable to refer to us as everything from idiots right the way down to sons of satan with a few obscenities and strange sexual practices thrown in?" Read David Griner's full article here

Perhaps Nestle has lost their mind? Best advice is given in the article and repeated by many a social media guru[douchebag]: make your point, but know when to walk away. You cant CONTROL an open conversation online (or offline for that matter). Social commentary is a sleeping tiger...the best you can do is try to watch from outside the cage and occasionally toss in a goat (or something), but try to ride the tiger like it's a sedated Shetland pony, or make FAST, and SUDDEN movements, and you're poking a tiger. I think we all know where that leads.

(NOTE: link is not a Tiger Woods reference - but this one is)

Comments

[Bryan Landaburu says...]

As another aside, one of our developers reminded me that there are three things that a rational person will not take seriously or respond to:

- political veganism

- hybrid cars and their associated subculture

- animal rights activists who live in a heated building

And, with that, I have to agree.