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Do you remember that ridiculously stupid ad campaign for Mrs Ball’s chutney, that made the rounds sometime last year? It was the “National Skirt Extension Project” campaign, where the readers were made to believe that all the ladies’ toilet signs would need to be changed to show the “ladies” wearing a longer skirt.

It was all part of a campaign that suggested that some things are fine the way the are, including …..Mrs Balls Chutney!!!! (sigh).

So, the overall consensus was that it was silly. Those who tend to have stronger opinions (like me) thought it was utterly stupid. Linking toilets signs to a food product….. sigh, again.

But hey! They got the stats! The Saturday Star reported that the NSEP website got 360 000 hits, inspired 6 000 phone calls, 300 blogs in 23 countries and 10 000 emails from people with an opinion on the issue and in search of what and who was behind it all. (via all4women).

Just to be clear, I think that the skirt campaign bit was clever. It just had a very, very poor product match. We were all expecting something quirkier, cleverer, funnier than Mrs Ball’s chutney.

But this post isn’t about the campaign per se. It’s about how Mrs Ball’s reacted to negative criticism. I know of at least one case where a blogger who offered negative criticism of the campaign was sent a “cease and desist” letter from the company, asking for the posts to be removed. Unfortunately he complied, but fortunately Google never forgets.

It has come to our attention that various posts relating to Mrs H.S. Ball’s products, specifically those dated 15th & 16th April 2009, have been placed on the website www.neuromance.co.za , which is registered to your name.
We are concerned that the above posts contain negative aspersions about our Mrs H.S. Ball’s product and may undermine the perception of our brand in consumers’ minds.
As you will appreciate, we have invested a substantial sum in the development of the brand in South Africa and internationally and believe that these posts are harmful to the Mrs H.S. Ball’s brand.
To these ends, we request your cooperation in removing these posts from your website within the next 3 days.

Kind Regards on behalf of
THE BRAND MANAGER

Here is an important lesson for marketers who want to play the online game: you have to take the risk on the chin. If you are going to run a campaign that you want to be noticed, that you want to go viral, that you want to grab attention, then please understand that it is very possible that others will try to knock you off your pedestal. You are taking a risk by running something that is different, and the risk can play out both ways. You have to be prepared for that, and have contingencies in place. But silencing the opposition is not a contingency….it’s a bully tactic.

In the case of Mrs Ball’s, they are lucky that the blogger is so passive. Most would have published the cease and desist letter, and kept the original posts live. There is nothing preventing us from having, and expressing, our opinion, and unfortunately in this case Mrs Ball’s opened the door wide – very wide – for criticism.

This is another one of those examples, where the client has obviously not considered, or hasn’t been informed, about the potential negative effects of a social media campaign. Once again…the client in this case got off ligthly. But the lesson is still valid, and a “What if…” approach should be mandatory for every social media campaign strategy layout.

Cease and desist letters need to be thought out carefully, because should they fall into the wrong hands, and should they have been written for the wrong reasons, they can cause further havoc to the brand, and draw more attention to what the brand wanted to be kept quiet in the first place.

My suggestion? If you feel that a “cease and desist” letter is in order, first try to make direct, informal contact with the writer voicing your concerns, and have a reasonable discussion. I have amended some of my blog posts (transparently) as a result of such contact, and the whole process can be amicable and civilised.

Recently, a web designer who had been commissioned to design a website for a client and never got paid, hijacked the client’s website and left the following note on it:

Leslie Estate Agents failed to pay for this site

During February 2010 Leslie Estate Agents placed an order for a website. Despite numerous promises to make payment by Thursday we have not seen a cent. Now, I would never tell you that Leslie is a liar, because that would be poor of me to make accusations like that, but I will ask if you believe he is totally honest?

It is rumoured that Leslie drives a beautiful big 4×4 vehicle, but he cannot afford to pay for services rendered by my company. I have spoken to both Khanyi and Leslie at Leslie Estate Agents. It is my opinion that they are not being honest when I get told that Leslie is not in the office. I know that I have more chance of being the first male to fall pregnant than receiving a return phone call.

He has told me that I will be paid on Thursday about 4 times, I guess he never specified which Thursday. Until I receive the outstanding amount I will be telling people to look at this web site. Because of Leslie and numerous others of his ilk, I am no longer interested in helping empowerment companies to achieve results from the web unless they pay up front.

You may consider this a racist statement but the facts are that I have spent more time chasing funds from empowerment companies than the jobs were worth. One in twenty three empowerment companies paid timeously. Maybe this notice will shame Leslie into paying his bill but I somehow doubt it.

I think this is shameful and disgraceful for a number of reasons, the most important one of which is that it does nothing to build the designer-client trust. As things stand, South African businesses are scared of going online, or at least investing a substantial amount of money into it, because it is mostly a medium they do not understand. Their only option is to outsource the work necessary, as well as the strategy behind it, and hope for the best. Knowing that a designer can “hijack” a website like this at anytime, and put up negative information isn’t going to get businesses beating down anyone’s door.

Also, this could be just one side of the story. Maybe the designer did not deliver on his promises? Maybe the design was not up to scratch, and the client asked for revisions? Maybe the designer was late delivering the work? Maybe there were errors to be fixed and revisions to be made? Obviously, the estate agent does not have the know how to turn this into a two way dialogue.

It’s tempting to call up the estate agent and tell him to link the designer’s name on each page of a website (once it’s up) to a blog post or page outlining these antics. With a bit of Google love, the designer could be hurt professionally, and substantially.

But the real issues are more subtle. The designer did not, in fact, get paid, and that is wrong. Had he been slightly smart about this whole thing, he could have easily earned our sympathy. A simple page with a screenshot of the design, and a short note saying something like “Website is almost ready, and about to go live as soon as last paperwork between client and designer is finalised” would have done wonders to build the integrity of the designer, and would have ensured he got paid promptly.

And lastly…I think a good rule of thumb for online professionals is to never put anything online that they wouldn’t be proud to put their name on. The designer in question has not signed his name. Not that it won’t come out. We already know that the company is based in Nelspruit, that the domain was registered by Melanie McLaren but the web designer is a male…wait….anyone remember the Guy McLaren fiasco of a while back? Wonder if there is a link?

(Btw, if you want a list of reputable web professionals, make sure to download the free Directory of SAfrica’s Web Experts)