When blogs are wrong, should corporate weigh in? Watch what Disney does.
Here’s a classic case of social media run amok. There is a post today about the F-word being used in the Disney movie “Enchanted.”
It’s making it’s way up the Digg charts.
The problem? After listening to the clip posted on that site 10 times, I can’t hear it. I went to the movie on Thanksgiving and it wasn’t even a question. Never even thought about it. Why? ‘Cause the language is not there. There is nothing remotely that sounds like that.
So is this a case of blogosphere hysteria? Just cranking it up for the “link love,” as Web gurus are fond of saying?
The original post by Peter Sciretta claiming the profanity was made at 12:18 a.m. today, Nov. 26. In his comments, he posts the following:
November 26th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Eric,
Just to clarify: The story was corrected two minutes after you posted your comment (the posting log says 12:18), this was long before Will read the story or posted his comment. The only thing I have added since Will’s posting was the bolded text telling people to read the rest of the story following the video. I felt that if Will missed it, than other people would as well.
However, I could not find any reference to a correction and why is the original post still up. The fact is, it is wrong. This is the kind of thing that must drive corporate marketers and PR folks mad.
Should Disney even respond? As of this posting, I was unable to find a response. Perhaps it doesn’t deserve one, but given the dollars still left in the Christmas movie-going season, I think it pays to call it like it is.
It’s a blogsphere prank, but nonetheless a real-world situation in the making. What would you do if you were Disney?
Tags: Blog errors, Blogs wrong, Disney
This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 9:01 am and is filed under blogging, new media.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
RSS feed
Subscribe via e-mail
November 26th, 2007 at 9:17 am
I run what is probably the most popular fan blog for Disney and here’s what I think Disney should do. Nothing. Let their fans come to their defense. Which is exactly what I plan to do when I get time to make a post after work tonight.
-John
November 26th, 2007 at 9:29 am
OK advice well taken, We have a family tradition of me taking the kids (5) to see a movie on thanksgiving morning while mom (the great one)has some quiet time to work her holiday magic.
This year we saw Enchanted and it was Great! Love the plot, acting was fun, and a perfect movie that spans generations and genders.
So back to this social media advice and see what happens in this PR case study, let’s trace my steps
1) I posted on the orginal bloggers blog
2) I posted on Digg
3) I posted here
4) I’ll post on your blog right after this post
So 4 positive comments and beautiful Enchanted mojo for the price of one dumb post. So that’s how this social media stuff works!
November 26th, 2007 at 11:20 am
I agree wholeheartedly with John. In this case, any input from Disney would cause more of an uproar. Let the fans (and there are plenty of them) defend the brand and let this non-issue die out on its own.
Of course, there are other instances when companies should absolutely get into the fray – perhaps when the brand is not as well known (and is unlikely to have many fans) or when an executive gets called out personally, for example. These aren’t hard-and-fast rules, of course, as every situation calls for an appropriate level of response. But it does call to mind that there are times when things are best left to the community and when they’re best left to the company.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
The thing that adds a wrinkle here for me is the 330 (and climbing) Diggs the original, accusing blog post has. The blog post eventually gets around to saying “the movie doesn’t *really* drop the F bomb,” but the Digg entry is entirely misleading — and it’s getting noticed.
Without the Digg action, this is just another “blogger being a little over-dramatic to get some attention” sort of scenario. But throw the misleading (and growing) Digg action, this is a bit of a different beast.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
I also posted an Utterz about this same topic. Another toughtful reply was submitted by PixelFish. She wrote what follows and I’ve included a link bsck to Utterz as well.
Depends on the blog and the blogger, but I don’t know if companies should ever do anything beyond issues statements, or occasionally making civil suits IF the situation warrants it. In this case, the blogger seems to have thought he heard something, but even if he misheard it, it’s not really an actionable case, I don’t think. It seems more like a case of “Did I hear what I thought I heard?” Things are open for debate. Unless the company can prove (and this would be tricky) that the blogger was acting of malice aforethought, they may have to chalk it all up to marketing buzz and discussion.
Now if a blogger repeatedly is wrong, they’ll lose their credibility or their blog will become synonymous with bad information. But I don’t think companies shoul do much…partly because such actions can take a chilling effect on freedom of speech. What happens when companies start going after people who actively don’t like their product.
I have been on the wrong end of that before, btw. When I worked at GamePro, somebody planted a story on Digg about GamePro editors being paid for certain reviews. Their proof: a review by GamePro Australia (a completely different division than GamePro USA) that gave a certain game a low rating. The story wasn’t even close to being true, but it got over a thousand diggs. But after a while more creditable folks started noticing that ALL this guy’s Digg stories were controversial and not backed up by fact. People do lose their credibility if they pull these stunts on a regular basis.
http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk3OTM0NQ/utt.php#cmntNDk3OTU1MQ
My Uterz site is http://www.utterz.com/~h-AlbertMaruggi/list.php