Social Media, Pranks & The Law

Over the last few months, I've talked about the power of social media especially amongst multicultural audiences. Social media goes beyond MySpace and Facebook, encompassing any place where groups can commune and share - YouTube, Flikr, etc. But what do companies do when consumers decide to share content they developed around a brand? And what happens if that content is a seemingly innocent prank that is potentially harmful to the brand?

Much has been written about the viral Diet Coke and Mentos experiment. Mentos shined while Diet Coke came down on the creators with a heavy-handed "cease & desist." This was rather harmless and if anything, helped both brands engage their base. In fact, Mentos launched an experiential marketing campaign around the premise and paid the creators to participate.

But today, Domino's is facing a much more daunting challenge. What does it do when two rogue employees upload a video to YouTube of themselves sticking cheese in their nose, waving salami behind their rear and place said items on a subway sandwich? The brand initially was cautious and tried not to feed the media frenzy. But just one day later, the video had been viewed over 1MM times and there was a warrant out for the arrest of the terminated employees. Heavy handed? Perhaps. But, web buzz metrics saw a steep decline in Domino's quality brand image in just one day. These types of precipitous drops are uncommon. Something they built over many years, erased in 24 hours.



The law is unclear on how to proceed. There are clear expectations of free speech on one side, and protection against defamation from the other. Only time will tell if legislators will move quickly enough to address the changing web landscape. One thing is clear, there are no easy answers and a lot of quivering brand managers out there.

Burger King Faces Ethical Dilemma

Burger King is facing an ethical dilemma as they suffer under a firestorm brought on by millions of Mexicans across the globe. The web played a major role in helping to bring to light an ad campaign running in the UK and Spain. The ad and accompanying print work (see above) are for the new Texican Whopper - a fushion of Texas angus beef and Mexican spices, get it?

The advertisements depict Mexicans in a negative light - referring to the barely 5 foot tall, luchador mask wearing Mexican character as "El Cachito" (the little morsel). While the TV spot doesn't include the Mexican flag's eagle, the accompanying print work does. This is concerning as Mexican law strictly forbids its desicration in any way.



Burger King and their agency, Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, are now in an ethical quandary (and business one). Do they continue to push ahead driven by creative freedom or do they respect the desire of millions of Mexicans to have this poor interpretation stricken from the public's view?

Spurred on by the Mexican Ambassador to Spain, Jorge Zermeño, it seems that Burger King is bowing to pressure and is planning to pull the work. It may not be because they see the light, but rather, understand the importance of Mexicans to their business. The US Hispanic market is a lucrative one and Mexico is arguably their second largest after the US. Ethical or not, Burger King understands that not reacting quickly in today's web based world, can really hurt the bottom line.