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On Target – The Return Of The Angry Mob

Posted by on Aug 5, 2010

If you haven’t noticed, there’s been quite a bit of news about same-sex marriage over the last week.   Last Week, Target (and a few others) came under fire and call for a boycott after they donated $150,000 to the group MN Forward – which is running advertising for a Republican candidate who opposes same-sex marriage.

And, yesterday, Prop 8 the California ban on same-sex marriage was overturned.

So, today I took the opportunity to toddle on over to Target’s Facebook page. And,  what greeted me was like the Nestle Vs. Greenpeace debacle – only it seems even worse.

Silence Is Not A Strategy

As of right now, Target has not posted anything to their Facebook page since last Monday the 26th of July.   That post was that it was the “last week to show your Summer pride” referring to a contest they’re having to promote Summer fun.   As a side note, I wonder if the irony of “Summer Pride” pun is lost on them given their current situation.

Anyway, a lot has obviously happened in the last week – including the fact that their CEO has come out and apologized.

“Not Enough” Sez The Angry Mob On Facebook

Target’s Facebook page is filled with people screaming and yelling and threatening to boycott Target.   And, as is usually the case in these instances, the conversation has moved well beyond the political donation – and into such wonderfully extreme topics such as:

  • Why America can’t move forward
  • Why only losers shop at Target
  • President Obama isn’t American
  • Free Speech
  • Ashamed to work at Target – and people urging him to quit

What the hell is the online marketing or social media team at Target thinking?

It’s Déjà vu All Over Again

Back in March – I wrote a post detailing the Nestle Vs. Greenpeace debate – and some wonderful thinking that Jeremiah Owyang at Altimeter group did on that situation.

It would certainly seem that no one at Target took those words to heed.

I’ve been working on a new set of  training classes and materials that covers what we’re calling setting the social media intentions.

Setting internal processes, disaster recovery and a plan for this type of thing is paramount to embarking on a Social Media Marketing Strategy.

It will be very interesting to watch over the next week.  An impending case study on how NOT to manage your conversation for sure.