Instead of trying to set the scene about today's blog post, I'll just start with the headline I saw and go from there.
Coca-Cola Pulls Facebook Promotion Amid Porn Complaints.
The Dr. Pepper-focused promotion required Facebook users to allow Dr. Pepper to "hijack" their Facebook status and post a funny or embarrassing message. In return, users received a chance to win $1,000 each week.
Problems arose when a few of the 160,000 people who volunteered their accounts were underage, including a 14-year old girl from England. Again, nothing too inappropriate, but anytime age limits aren't defined you're asking for trouble.
Some messages weren't all that offensive, like the one that read "Lost my special blankie. How will I go sleepies?" Other statuses edged closer away from the line of good taste, like, "Never heard of it described as cute before."
However, the message that Dr. Pepper placed on the 14- year old girl's Facebook wall was, "I watched 2 girls one cup and felt hungry afterwards." For those of you who don't know, 2 girls one cup is a hardcore pornographic film.
Now it's safe to say that a line was crossed. Not surprisingly, the girl's mother wasn't too happy about the status, and her complaints led to Coca-Cola pulling the Dr. Pepper promotion altogether.
This is a great example of not only knowing the target demographic of the promotion, but the target demographic of the medium as well. A status like that might be funny to someone a little older, but the age range of Facebook users extends into that younger demographic.
Some will ask how Dr. Pepper could let that status go unnoticed, while others may ask who was writing such risque status updates. But anytime a big corporation slips up this badly, there's only one thing we can all ask...
What were they thinking?
