"Oh, no, no. Oh, no, no. She's confident." Try creeped out. Now historically when there has been conflict between advertisers and the public, it's been because advertisers have employed the Justin Bieber way of thinking: If I follow them, show up everywhere they go, and force them to listen to me, it'll really win them over! The history of advertising is chock full of instances where consumers have ignored advertisers and then advertisers have in turn found new (and usually more obnoxious) ways to reach them.
Some argue that the rise of social media has brought peace, because consumers are, more or less, able to choose which brands they receive messages from. However, as an advertiser myself, I fear that the emergence of social media has merely ended trench warfare in favor of nuclear warfare. The conflict is still there, and now the damage potential is much greater.
"Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange, and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs."
-Banksy
If Banksy's quote is the battle cry, then social media is the ammo in this war of the words. Too many brands are spending millions of dollars on their campaigns, logos, reputations, etc. only to be Kanye West'd by members of the public who are out to steal their thunder.
It's all fun and Games until someone loses a buy...
McDonald's is an Olympic sponsor, and for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games McDonald's created an interactive campaign for users to send well-wishes to the athletes. Cheers to Sochi
However, many people have been condemning the sponsors of this year's Games for not boycotting the event due to the Russian government's social policies, and they have gone to great lengths to sabotage the campaigns of every Olympic sponsor. In a classic case of hashtag hijacking, LGBT activists have used McDonald's' official Olympic Games hashtag, #CheersToSochi, to voice their political opinions and attack the associated brands.
And here's a handy list of the international Sochi sponsors. These are the companies to avoid. #CheersToSochi pic.twitter.com/Tbt3JwwKET
— Anything But Coke (@AnythingButCoke) January 28, 2014
Not only are the hashtags not being linked with the campaign, but people are using them to wreck the reputation of the companies that created them. The world of advertising has never seen something like this, at least not of this magnitude, because this kind of assembly was never possible before social media. These Games are not about going for the gold. They're about going for the jugular.On a less sensitive note, a new coffee shop called Dumb Starbucks recently opened in L.A. While the shop does serve beverages, it positions itself as a satirical work of art that is protected by parody law. The purpose behind the shop's opening is still unknown, but the significance of the event lies in the amount of buzz that it has generated. Five or six years ago, the shop probably would have made it to the local news, but it never would have been gained this much attention. During the morning of February 10th, @dumbstarbucks had 5,000 followers. 24 hours later, the parody shop is up to 12.8K followers. Social media has given average Joes (Haha get it? Like a cup of Joe?) the ability to communicate their message to mass audiences.
Advertising is no longer just for the advertisers.
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