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

1408 replies

MrsRickman · 16/07/2010 17:58

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!?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
seapig · 19/07/2010 21:11

Ditanny....exactly!

seapig · 19/07/2010 21:13

And isn't there an argument here for ALL adult material to be removed from facebook given that under 18s are joining?

MyNeighbourTotoro · 19/07/2010 21:29

Agree with "By ISNT Mon 19-Jul-10 21:09:00"

The thread is moving to a porn debate so I'm moving away now as I dont really want to fill my head with it atm.

Just want to reiterate to Mrs Rickman that I think she has done great

Interested in this thread?

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Merrylegs · 19/07/2010 21:31

re tabouleh's much earlier post. I still don't understand why MrsRickman set up the 'let girls be girls' facebook page? Rather than mumsnet I mean. Did she? Did you MrsR? And about the same time as all this Dr P thing kicked off. What with your phd covering just this kind of topic? Not casting aspersions on the authenticity of this, obviously, but interested to see how it all fits in? Will make for an interesting dissertation anyway.

strandedatsea · 19/07/2010 21:39

I'm slightly confused - wasn't there some big uproar because all pictures of breastfeeding women had to be removed from FB as it was deemed to be unsuitable for underage "viewers"?

Or did I dream that?

If there was, isn't that just slightly ironic given this story...

Oh, and Jimbo, I think you are tying yourself up in knots somewhat. As despicable as the video in question may be (I haven't seen it and don't want to but can't imagine it's exactly pleasant viewing; and don't for a moment believe the women involved did it for fun), posters on this forum are not arguing for it to be removed from the internet.

What people are saying, and I think you actually agree with in your own convoluted way, is that said video should not be purposefully brought to the attention of underage children for the sake of an advertising campaign by a large, rich, influential multinational.

MrsRickman · 19/07/2010 21:48

merrylegs
a friend directed me to mumsnet, thinking there would be some good links and stuff on here for me to research. I had never even heard of the website before last week, much to my shame.
As a seasoned facebooker (I am the admin of a few 'cause' type pages) I was quite surprised there was no Facebook page for the campaign. So, I set one up. (mumsnet contacted me about it, liked the idea so are now going to set up an official one, mine was more of a 'fan page')
Only after spending a good couple of days reading through threads on here did I decide it might be a good idea to run the Coca Cola issue by the posters on here, seeing as I was getting no joy from Coke. And all I can say is, I'm glad I did.
Maybe it's because the premature sexualisation of children is so close to my heart that I decided to make a fuss. Maybe other mums out there were in a similar position and just felt helpless and left it. I don't know.

OP posts:
CaptainKirksNipples · 19/07/2010 21:50

I have seen the video, it is one of the most infamous porn clips on the internet just now. I guess most 14 year olds will have heard of it or watched the reactions to it on youtube (there are hundreds) BUT this is totally unacceptable for them to link to a facebook profile, well done mrsrickman!

deemented · 19/07/2010 21:53

MrsRickman - I full applaud the stance you've taken - i'll have 14years olds one day, so thank you.

But i'm curious - where to now? Are you just going to let it lie, or are you taking it further at all, to the police maybe?

Merrylegs · 19/07/2010 22:03

Thank you MrsRickman for that very clear answer. I get it now!

bibbitybobbityhat · 19/07/2010 22:08

Mrs R - presumably your dd does know what it means now?

Substandard · 19/07/2010 22:11

Few interesting quotes from co-founder of Lean Mean Fighting Machine earlier this year:

Most common mistake people make in digital media or marketing?

"To believe that new technology is a replacement for wit, charm and persuasiveness."

...

"Social media is not complicated is it? It enables people to share and participate. The key is WHAT are you sharing, that's is the hard thing to create: something worth sharing."

Oh dear, it all gone a bit awry for them.

FellatioNelson · 19/07/2010 22:12

Yes MrsR if you think you could deal with the inevitable press attention and scrutiny there must me some organisation out there to sort of 'sponsor' you as a figurehead, stump up legal fees etc, in order to take enable you to take this much further. It's not just about punishing CocaCola - it's a message to all huge corporations, advetisers and marketing men that there are lines that must not be crossed - especially where children are concerned.

I cannot imagine anyththing other than a deluge of support, under the circumstances.

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 19/07/2010 22:13

Seapig - Sexually explicit content is already against the facebook T&C's.

  1. You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.
tokyonambu · 19/07/2010 22:13

What horrifies me about this is the normalisation of porn. Accept for a moment everything Jimbo says, that scat porn is just another form of entertainment and parents should regard it as a necessary part of life's rich tapestry. Obviously, I don't accept this, but arguendo.

Even in a world in which scat porn is in general circulation amongst adults, since when did a conservative company with a wide customer and stakeholder base like the Coca Cola company use it as a marketing tool? Were scat porn to be saleable in the UK, which is debatable at best, it would quite clearly have an R18 certificate. I doubt that Coca Cola would use 18, never mind R18 material in any other context. Somehow, once the words Facebook' and Internet' are used, a company which wouldn't dream of showing a racy picture of a lady's cleavage in soft focus to sell product is suddenly up for hideous filth.

That sociopaths in Hoxton are currently amused by this is irrelevant: Coca Cola is probably not, overall, keen to associate their brand with pornography, and the vast majority of their customers and shareholders will not see this as a bad thing. What is the failure of thinking that sees a company whose advertising would usually get a U certificate suddenly waving filth in front of children?

One problem is that `The Internet' is somehow seen as different, and a horrible lowest common denominator attitude is taken. Another is that advertising agencies are vying with each other to seem edgy, and advertising purchasers are reluctant to seem fusty. I plan to write to the agency's customers, which they helpfully list, asking them why they are doing business with people who promote filth: its legality is irrelevant, rather the question of if Cadbury and Virgin think that scat porn is part of their brand proposition, and if the risk that their advertising might allude to it unbeknownst to them is worth running.

But at root this is about normalisation. What material people might watch in the privacy of their own homes is one thing. But the material large companies associate with their brand is quite another. Coca Cola are now a company that encourages fourteen year olds to explore fetish porn: whether that is illegal or not is irrelevant to the question of what that makes prospective customers think of them. And the answer should be that Coca Cola's promotion of pornography to minors should be indelibly associated with them. People who buy their products should be aware of that.

HerBeatitude · 19/07/2010 22:17

Why isn't this a police matter?

I'm pretty sure that some sort of criminal law has been broken here.

My god, what hatred of women there is out there. And how mainstream it is in the advertising and marketing world, who control the images we see and the attitudes which are promoted.

preghead · 19/07/2010 22:20

Catching up on this post - continued support to Mrs R. I am only interested in the CC/FB side of this thread really, on the fence on the porn issue (for adults, only). I just wanted to say that I am also a senior IT professional, work in an ALL-male environment, have done for many years and, whilst I was aware of the 1 cup "phenomenon", I have never felt that an extended interest in or knowledge of fetishist hardcore porn has anything whatsoever to do with mine or my colleagues day jobs.

My DP who is also an IT professional had never heard of it.

FellatioNelson · 19/07/2010 22:26

Excellent post TokyoAmbu

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 19/07/2010 22:33

Re: Extreme porn and 2 girls 1 cup. I think we should be wary of seeing this as a sign of the end times. The effects of porn and it's wider influence on society and it tendency to be more and more extreme is worrying, but the particular video referenced here is disproportionately well known due to becoming something of an internet meme amongst griefers and particularly the reaction videos - (showing the video to someone then filming their reaction and posting that on the internet). This doesn't reflect the idea that the content of the video has become more acceptable. More that it is considered gross and shocking, but also ridiculous.

amistillsexy · 19/07/2010 22:35

Have lurked here since Friday. It's just taken me all evening to read today's posts alone!
I just want to offer my support, MrsR.

Is anyone considering boycotting Facebook? I only joined it a couple of months ago, but I'm not keen. My 13YO niece was using 'Status Shuffle' and posting some dreadful things until I saw them and had a word (my sister thinks looking at her Facebook page would be akin to reading her diary, and she'd 'rather not know'!). The whole thing seems really wierd to me, and I can't say my life's any richer for it.

dittany · 19/07/2010 22:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 19/07/2010 22:41

amistillsexy - this isn't a facebook issue - it's an advertising issue.

I think that parents monitoring facebook is pretty standard practtice. A diary by it's nature is private. Facebook is public.

tokyonambu · 19/07/2010 22:41

It's worth noting that one of the clients the agency in question boasts of is the Liberal Democrats. If you live in a LD constituency, you might like to ask your MP whether he is aware that his party is funding a company that encourages minors to consume fetish pornography.

Another client of the agency is Shelter. If you give them money, you should ask them if they are aware whom they are partnering with, and if they think scat porn is part of their campaigns.

Clearly, Cadbury would not wish to associate their product with faeces, nor risk having a promotion do so. Writing to them to ask if they are aware of whom they are using as advertising agencies might be worthwhile.

DCSF have employed them to work on the National Year of Reading and on Modern Foreign Languages. This is clearly unacceptable, and a letter to your MP, to be passed to Michael Gove, asking why his civil servants employed a company which has a history of offering fetish pornography to minors might be worthwhile.

The intent should be to calmly characterise the sort of company that Lean Mean Fighting Machine are - that they have no qualms about encouraging children to access fetch pornography - and make sure that government and large companies understand the risk they are taking.

dittany · 19/07/2010 22:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

butterscotch · 19/07/2010 22:47

Sorry bit of fun I didn't have time to read all 31 pages when I updated the status I wanted to warn friends with teenage kids, haven't caught up all posts yet but there are two fan pages whinging about the fact the app has been pulled I've reported them as offensive suggested porn and nudity if anyone else wants to!

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 19/07/2010 22:48

Tokyonambu - let's be careful - they DIDN'T offer fetish pornography to minors. They DID promote it to minors.

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