Wow. I'm speechless. Which you all know is VERY rare.
So a couple of days ago Greenpeace put a page up talking about how Nestle is using companies that are destroying rainforest in Indonesia to get palm oil for their products.
They did this pretty awesome little video:
Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.
The video was initially on YouTube but according to a tweet from Greenpeace, Nestle asked to Google to remove it, and in true "don't be evil" style, Google agreed. So Greenpeace put it on Vimeo. And then a funny thing happened, users everywhere started uploading it to YouTube and Vimeo. Outstanding.
Forget about the new frontier of interaction and conversation. And heck free speech. Nestle believe they can set the rules about what people say about their company. On a platform that they don't own.
I'm not sure how to react to this, I keep thinking that it's April 1st and this is an elaborate PR hoax. It's a step by step guide on how to not engage when someone criticises your brand, on how not to behave when something that talks badly about your company is put up on a video-sharing site and how not to talk to people who have a differing opinion to you.
Anyone who wants to understands social etiquette in the digital spaces should basically do the opposite of what Nestle has done to date and they'll be ok.
And there endeth the lesson.
Nestle, thank you. Greenpeace, thank you for getting palm oil all over Nestle's face.
Really nice summary. I wasn't aware of the video aspect to this story, but love that it was then downloaded from Vimeo and reposted on YouTube - go the Streisand effect!
As for the Nestle responses on Facebook, just breathtaking that someone who presumably is a “Social Media Expert” could be so inept.
Posted by: Abnfp | 19 March 2010 at 13:16
And I note 'AdGrads' has commented. Samson, see me in my office please. ;)
Posted by: Will | 19 March 2010 at 13:34
Fantastic last sentence.
Posted by: Willem | 19 March 2010 at 14:51
Nestle (and Google, by extension) seem to be completely ignoring the Fair Use clause of U.S. copyright law.
Posted by: walkerp | 19 March 2010 at 14:58
oh thank you Nestle for giving us a new douchebrand case study i started to get bored with Eurostar and Skittles...
Posted by: Asi | 19 March 2010 at 15:35
Nestle certainly are having a bad day over this little social media shambles, but what about their PR gurus?
The likes of JWT, Ogilvy and Mather, Publicis Group and Nielsen Buzzmetrics have all happily worked on the Nestle account in the face of mounting evidence that the company has no interest in a sustainable business model.
It's about time that they were called to account in my view.
Posted by: Slowdazzle | 19 March 2010 at 16:17
As sayeth the lord Bart Simpson, "My bubble, my rules".
Posted by: VicHoon | 19 March 2010 at 16:28
Boom!
Nice one, Sam.
Posted by: George Nimeh | 19 March 2010 at 16:41
Thank you for your comments guys. I loves me some internet stupidity.
Let's be honest, this is textbook how to not behave. Not just online, but in general. And Slowdazzle is right, the big dumb agencies that hawk Nestle's wares are the real morons in this picture. No surprise to see the evil empire in that list.
The point many people seem to be missing is Google's role in all of this. Once they go down the role of regulating things, where to they stop? Don't be evil is totally out the window now, in my opinion.
Boom.
Posted by: Sam | 19 March 2010 at 19:21
"Nestle believe they can set the rules about what people say about their company"
...on their own Facebook page. Yes, they can do this. You talk about it like the company is infringing peoples civil right by deleting some douche bag comments from a page that they control. The ad is quite cool and there's good points against their company (not made by you, I might add), but seriously, grow up.
Posted by: Wow. I'm made speechless by logical reactions as well. | 19 March 2010 at 20:16
I think the point I'm trying to make is that it's not a media platform they own; therefore they are intrinsically not going to be able to own the path of the conversation in the way they could say on their website.
They can do what they want, where they want. Which is what they've been doing right? But everyone has the right to voice their opinion so if they're being douchebags they get their comments published but if I am then they get to delete them?
And finally Mr. No Name, this post wasn't about making arguments for or against the issue in question, more writing about the pattern of behavior that said arguments started. There is a difference.
Thanks for your comment dude. I promise I wont' get better at growing up.
Posted by: Sam | 19 March 2010 at 20:29
LMAO @wowiblahblahblah
I honestly didn't think there was such a thing as a Nestle fanboy but you managed to find one Sam!
I know he didn't leave his name but there can be only one person who has that much love for Nestle: the milky bar kid!!!
Posted by: Scouse | 19 March 2010 at 22:19
Nestle douschis it.
Posted by: facu | 20 March 2010 at 00:02
definite bad hair day for Nestle... and good fur day for the orangutans.
As for the Milky Bar Kid... it's gotta be him, or his mother.
Hahaha
Posted by: Karli | 20 March 2010 at 09:53
One of the great reactions @ Nestle is "Don't you have bigger problems now then to worry about the use of your logo"
Reading the reactions is indeed a brilliant case of customers teaching social media lessons to a brand.
Posted by: Cato | 20 March 2010 at 12:15
LOL @ Douchebrandification.
Between that word and this quote from Nestle:
"Thanks for the lesson in manners. Consider yourself embraced.
But it's our page, we set the rules, it was ever thus."
I'm just dying.
Honestly it's like they followed the text, How lose friends and Piss off people.
So sad.
I compared Nestle's PRFail to BA's much better social media response to their crisis on my blog.
http://bit.ly/bcZ4jr
Posted by: Soyini | 21 March 2010 at 22:29
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE-KUhtVBYY&feature=player_embedded - Even more brilliant than the other one on Nestles PR reaction to the gree peace campaign ... watch it right to the end! Except you can't now - sense of humour failure by the company concerned?
Posted by: Belinda phipps | 23 March 2010 at 20:37
I've been not so awesome at getting back to all y'all who commented, but thank you for the perceptive points. Ultimately, as a lot of you have intimated this is a lesson not so much in new media, more basic human behavior, and how you can't trample on people just because you're bigger than them. And online trying to silence people only brings more attention to them.
And Scouse: that douche isn't the milky bar kid, he's from Electronic Arts in Canada, he's probably pissed off that Madden 2010 didn't sell as many copies as he'd have liked. Boom.
Posted by: Sam | 26 March 2010 at 08:05
wow..this is definately the type of video material that is required to get the message across. Go Green Peace!
Posted by: I am the best file sharing software dude. | 26 July 2010 at 11:31
Great post - I think the video is very creative. The Orangutang finger communicates everything so well. The concept is the thing which makes that video so good and it connects on many emotional levels...
I think this is a win for creativity...
Posted by: Matt Davies - Attitude Design | 13 August 2010 at 10:18