In an example of the power of word of mouth online – Australian brand Cotton On is being flamed in social networking site Twitter as I write this.

This morning I noticed a tweet by popular Australian blogger Mia Freedman. “I have not been this furious for a looooong time” with a link to a post on her blog describing her outrage at a slogan t-shirt sold by Cotton On that said “They Shake Me”

Her audience have responded by re-tweeting the link to their own social networks all morning.

The word has spread to influential social media personalities – an action that will ensure the negative exposure will continue to grow.

Mia has updated her Twitter with response from Cotton On – that is that there will be no comment.

At the time of writing the blog post had been re-tweeted on Twitter 230 times with 143 comments posted in response.

—

UPDATE

Cotton On did listen and have now withdrawn the t-shirt line as a result.

From The Australian…

“CLOTHING company Cotton On has admitted it “crossed the line” and today vowed to withdraw a range of offensive children’s t-shirts, including one making light of child abuse, after a consumers threatened a boycott.

A t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “They Shake Me” was the last straw for many angry parents, who sent emails and Twitter messages to the company this morning expressing their disgust and an intention to vote with their feet.

Last month Cotton On had stuck by its range of shirts, which included slogans such as “I’m a tits man” and “I”m living proof my mum is easy”, saying there was a place in the market for their “edgy” humour that pushed the boundaries.

But today, as anger spread through the social networking sites, Cotton On finally cottoned on to their customers’ feelings, offering a contrite apology and a promise to withdraw the offending items from sale.”

Full story here.

SUMMARY

From a Social Media/Online Business perspective this is a great Australian business social media case study. Individuals used their collective voices and personal networks to create change and were successful.

The lesson here for any business is that each and every customer and potential customer of yours has a voice and they’re not afraid to use it.

It’s crucial to develop relationships before the preverbial hits the fan and it’s important to be active in the social media space. By being active I mean – monitoring AND engaging.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Case Study – Cinderella Wine Cinderella Wine is the latest business venture for the Wine...
2. Want to know why you should use Social Media and Internet networking? A few quick thoughts about why businesses/entrepreneurs should get involved...
3. Social Media is just the Internet – Now I got introduced yesterday as Clare, who works in Social...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.