Beta and the outdoor industry analyse the Mumsnet cock-up

[morningpaper]

The Mumsnet Incident in Brandrepublic

Garry's chum Robert:

"Don't mess with Mumsnet. It is like wrestling with an octopus. There is huge diversity within it. There are those with political ambitions as well as many looking for advice and support and everything in between. They can organise themselves very quickly. The conversation is relatively serious during the day and gets pretty wild in the evening - we found threads about wife-swapping, gangbangs, "bumsex" and drugging babies with alcohol."

PLANNER (and mum to be) - Amelia Torode, head of strategy and innovation, VCCP:

"It was astounding to watch it all happen in real time, though, from the first reaction to the haiku about Garry (Lace)'s penis size."

AGENCY HEAD - Cilla Snowball, chairman, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO:

"But the key postmortem question is one of judgment and establishing why
the ad got cleared to run. It's patently horrible, untrue and offensive
and should never have seen the light of day.

Incidentally, why is she described as a 'Birmingham University graduate and mother of three' (obv the mother of three bit is what puzzles me). Is the fact that a man may be a father of three ever mentioned in a bio of this sort?

Maybe Cilla is on the thread already, cunningly disguised - although if she has time to organise 3 kids, 5 businesses and type on here, then I really would like to know how she does it ...

PS Still laughing into my keyboard about the gangbangs

and has anyone admitted to drugging their baby with alcohol? (Or do you think Robert is unfamiliar with children's medication and thinks that Calpol is a new type of cocktail?)

I think it's ok for the piece to mention her children - it's interesting and relevant - and actually similar profiles on men usually do mention whether they have family.

there was a thread on here about someone who wondered whether she should report a friend to SS for given her baby alchol or something like that.Can tremember exact details.

Obv Beta have given hte whole thing a DM spin

"Should we have threatened Mumsnet with legal action? Given the
extraordinary number and abusive nature of the posts, and the lack of
speed at which Mumsnet took them down, yes, without question. We removed
the threat as soon as Mumsnet started operating within its own
guidelines."

Bollocks!

You should have just killed off the stupid campaign immediately and crawled off to lick your self-inflicted wounds. Not tried to hit out at those with legitimate objections. pah!

I did miss a chunk of this but WTF could they have sued us for? Surely nothing actually defamatory was said (such as they abuse their children, steal from their clients or vote BNP?) It;s not illegal to call people a bunch of wankers or even to speculate in a vulgar fashion about their genitalia.
I suppose the big wets could have tried to bring a case for 'injured feelings' but they would have looked utterly fucking ridiculous.

SolidGoldBrass - well, I'm not a lawyer, but I guess in truth nothing much really. I picture Robert and Garry doing their interview with BrandRepublic talking on their 80s-brick-mobiles from the bottom of a big hole ... you know, that big hole they dug for themselves.

Anyone looking for a new job?

The Advertising Standards Authority is currently advertising (of course!) for a new Head of Complaints

£75K

tinyurl.com/yc55tab