It all began with Kenneth Cole's untimely tweet. On February 3, in a careless move, designer Kenneth Cole tied his Twitter update to the ongoing Egyptian revolution as a plug for his spring collection:
The 140-character tweet immediately went viral, leading thousands of tweeters to criticize Cole's insensitivity and force him to withdraw his statement. Caving from the pressure, he profusely apologized on his Facebook page the very next day. As a designer who has had a history of tactless print ads such as post-9/11 "God Dress America" and "On Sept. 12th, families returned to the dining room table. TODAY IS NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL" (I'm not even kidding), this was an unprecedented moment as it was the first public apology from Mr. Cole himself. Was it the change of medium (from print to Twitter) that allowed Cole's audience to show him the error of his ways? Who knows.
Next was Groupon's Superbowl commercial, which featured the Tibetan liberation movement to highlight all the deals Groupon has on Himalayan restaurants all over the country. The gist of the ad was this: Sure, thousands of Tibetans continue to be violently oppressed because of their religious beliefs and cultural traditions, but at least you can get their amazing fish curry for $15 instead of $30 through Groupon! If you haven't seen it yet (first of all, which rock have you been hiding under?), here it is:
Although meant to satirize a PSA and direct viewers to Groupon's website where they can donate to Tibet's cause, the commercial backfired terribly. A social media firestorm erupted, where thousands of Tweeters and Facebookers used Groupon's message board to call for a boycott of its product and services. Talk about social media irony.
Even then, Groupon's CEO Andrew Mason failed to apologize, instead defending his commercial and saying that the ad was meant as a nod to “the often trivial nature of stuff on Groupon when juxtaposed against bigger world issues.” I guess Mr. Mason didn't get the memo: if you have to explain the joke, it's not really that funny.
The social media backlash has continued to grow, proving that Mason's point was moot and in spite of intent, the commercial was just made in bad taste. People want an apology. And when they don't get it, this is what happens:
This week has proven that because of social media, the line between what is effective and what is ethical in marketing is once again blurred. Have we become too hyper-sensetized, as Mason said, to have a sense of humor? Are we trying too hard to be politically correct to get a simple joke? All I know is that when you fail to monitor your social media responses and then blatantly deny what people are saying, that's when you know you are taking two steps forward and one step back. What we have seen this week is the power of social media to unite individuals who refuse to be manipulated by executives that trivialize and poke fun at legitimate causes for the purpose of their own profit. What is even sadder is at this very minute, people in Egypt and all over the world are sacrificing their lives to attain the same fundamental freedoms that people like those in Kenneth Cole and Groupon irresponsibly exploit.
From Kenneth Cole's untimely tweet, Groupon's marketing mishap in the Superbowl to Egypt's Youth Revolution, the same message has reverberated across borders and timezones many times this week: Whether you like it or not Mr. Cole/Andrew Mason/Hosni Mubarak, the public is here to stay.
Yay social media!
PS. Continue to stream live updates of what's going on in Egypt here.
