Need help with a very sensitive complaint against a massive multinational!

[MrsRickman]

Ok, here goes.
Coca Cola are running a promo via their Dr Pepper brand just now on facebook. It is called 'status takeover' and involves the application putting an embarrassing or funny status on your FB page.
My 14 yo dd participated and I was HORRIFIED to log into FB and see that her status read - 'I watched 2 girls one cup and felt hungry afterwards'. For anyone who doesn't know what this means, please stay ignorant, for those who do, you can imagine how I felt. This was compounded later on when a quick search through dds internet history revealed she had tried to find out what it was for herself. Thankfully, our ISP has a wonderful child filter!!
So, after various emails and phonecalls to CocaCola marketing I have been offered (quite offensively) as way of compensation, a night in a hotel and theatre tickets for the West End. Fat lot of use to me, we live in Glasgow.
So, how do I proceed? ASA? I am absolutely fizzing with rage and disgust, and want a full apology and explanation. CocaCola are saying they use outside marketing teams for different brands and it's outside their jurisdiction. Help!?

It's so depressing.

Would these men walk up to a child on the street and start talking to them about masturbation and hardcore porn? What do they think would happen if they did that?

Out of orderJimbo calm down and look at the issues.This is not OK and should not be allowed.The internet is a fantastis tool for our young people but there has to be some protection and it is up to us parents to try to make it a safe tool for our young people to use.If all of us adults did this we would not have a problem.Coca cola included please.

No, I'm sorry, it's not up to the rest of the world to make sure they don't offend you or your children. Your children had to click the accept button on the page that appears asking you if it can use your personal information etc. EVERYONE who used the app had to click this button. Maybe you should teach your children about reading terms and conditions and before they accept something. Clicking the accept button is like a digital signature. There are a million applications and pages on Facebook you might not like, or might not deem appropriate. If this is the case, then ban your child from Facebook.

In that case jimbo you should be lobbying coca cola to get them to reinstate the app. Good luck with that.

And unfortunately for people like you, it is up to the rest of the world to make sure they don't offend me or my children. If a man walks up to me and my children and starts talking about masturbation to us, then the police get called and he gets nicked. You might want to bear that in mind.

Children don't always understand this.We cant be with them while they are online all the time.Some of us have lives other than our children. Who are you anyway?

Does anyone have a Facebook account and want to reply to this?

"Danniella-Ashley Wilkie
Danniella-Ashley Wilkie
How stupid. She could have just had her child not use the app by removing it. Not get it deleted. Someone always complains and ruins the fun for everyone.
7 minutes ago · Flag"

here under charlotte willow-edwards post

Jimbo, nowhere did the T&Cs state the updates might contain sexual references, in fact they said they were suitable for anyone 14 and over. 'Personal information' is entirely different. This is a case of a mutltination company using an online marketing application targeting minors with explicit messages, forcing them to make their profiles public, and waving £1000 at them so they comply.

If you're the kind of person who thinks that's fine, then quite frankly you ought to be on some kind of register.

"And it's not up to us not to offend you Jimbo, so piss off back to your pile of porn."

I'm disappointed you feel the need to be meaninglessly offensive. This is the sort of message I would expect from someone who could not write a coherent reply, but felt the need to get their ten cents in anyway. Child abuse? Sexual grooming? You lot need to take a long step back and have a good look at what you're getting angry about here. It's not promoting pornography, it didn't even mention said video. Might I also point out, that in order for you all to know what the video is, you must have watched it or talked about it at some point. Ahhhh!! Facebook is corrupting our children! When they're getting seven shades of shit kicked out of them at school every day and touched up by priests round the back of the church? Go concentrate on changing something that will actually make a difference, like the failing school system that is turning your children into a generation of illiterate sheep.

*multinational.

Itsa, I'd love to respond - but I'd have t o like Dr Pepper first, and I'm not going to do that.

However, I have posted the following on my own status - perhaps other people could do similar?

"Why on earth did Dr Pepper think it was OK to encourage children to set their Facebook settings to public, and for Dr Pepper to then post references to porn on the children's statuses? Wrong on so many levels. Very glad the Status Takeover competition has been pulled."

Please don't feed the troll people, he probably doesn't have children, doesn't understand corporate responsibilty and enjoys watching degrading scat porn.

I think that jimbo is from the agency.

His argument is ludicrous.

A parent could in no way be expected to know that a soft drink promotion using "I want my blankie" as an example, actually was going to reference masturbation and hardcore porn.

No-one in their right mind would think that these statuses were suitable in any way, shape or form. It is mind-boggling that anyone would argue otherwise. The content of the film two girls would I'm sure be banned if it were sent for release in the UK, even through licenced sex shops.

Troll, MrsRickman? Anyone who comes here with an opinion that doesn't agree with your own is a troll? I'm simply putting another side to the argument out there. Blimey, if no one ever had any opposition to their beliefs, what would be the point in having them, and secondly what would the world be like!

jesus wept. Read this thread for the first time this morning, and i am utterly shocked that such a fucking stupid campaign could have got off the ground.

As a mother of a 14 year old, I am utterly horrified that a large company would encourage teenagers FB pages to be set as public. This is so completely out of order I can scarcely believe it. DD has access to FB ONLY because her profile is private.

And the scat refernece - well I had never heard of it (naive) and I am astiounded that such a thing even exists. How bloody disgusting that two women's humiliation is viewed as such a 'laugh' on youtube. My god.

By dittany
"Yup, this porn is torture of women.

If you did it to prisoners at Abu Ghraib, someone would get their heads cut off in retaliation. Do it to a couple of women who nobody cares about - teenagers and adults laugh about it on the internet.

It's as if women aren't human, just bodies to be mocked, degraded and abused."

Absolutely spot on Dittany, as per usual.

I'm sorry but I have to agree with jimbo I'm an IT professional (and dyslexic so I apologies if my spelling is poor) I have worked in IT for nearly all of my working life, and In this time i have learnt you can't police the internet it would take far to much time, its an impossible task however you can take care to find out what your child is doing on the internet.

The internet is the last place where we can have freedom of speech it doesn't matter how stupid your view is you are allowed to have it.

Personally I don't see the damage of this, just like most IT Techs I have seen 2 girls one cup and yes its sick its vile and made me want to throw up but I don't see what the problem is with a 14 yearold seeing it in comparison to some of the stuff on the internet, your throwing a hissy fit about this DR pepper status take over, yet your child can find far worse with Google, so I will say you can't control the internet just what content your child views, if you don't know how to do that just ask an IT tech were usually quite friendly and willing to help.

"It's not promoting pornography, it didn't even mention said video. "

yes it did.

Abd well done MrsRickman for doing something about it.

Christ are we now being taken over by IT Technicians?

Jimbo - The Coca Cola Corps agree with me.
That is enough for me to know my complaint is justified.
Why don't you lobby Coke about how you feel? Feel free. You'll fail.