Does Cotton On know about its Social Media failure?
If it does – it’s not handling it right. It’s not handling it at all.
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.
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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Cotton On did listen and have now withdrawn the t-shirt line as a result.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.”
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.
If you liked this, you might want to check out my business website - Women in Business.
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment below or follow me on Twitter.
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- Social Media Case Study – Cinderella Wine
- Want to know why you should use Social Media and Internet networking?
- Social Media is just the Internet – Now
- Social Media Case Study: U2, You Tube and Twitter
- Building Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape – Gary Vaynerchuk
I've been working online since 2001, started my 
Clare,
Alot of the other Mum’s I know are on websites like Connect2mums and email lists. I emailed cotton on directly and sent an email out to all my Mum-friends and networks (over 800). Twitter and Mia’s blog are only the tip of the iceburg by now I think.
Oh gawd… It’s Motrin Moms all over again. Stay-at-home mums with nothing better to do than sit around tweeting about the latest outrage against motherhood/infants/whatever. The ultimate outcome being… Nothing. Last time I checked motrin were still in business. In fact, the whole affair probably pushed their brand awareness figures a few percentage points higher. Perhaps Cotton On aren’t so stupid to be keeping their traps shut and stoking the social media flames after all…
well, yeah… it’s pretty rough i guess but for people that AREN’T offended by it it only makes their brand more well known
mind you, i have no idea what percentage of people wouldn’t be offended. I don’t even like babies but I think those shirts are pretty awful…
If you don’t think it’s funny, thats fine. You’re obviously not their target audience. Just because it offends you doesn’t mean it does not have the right to exist. It’s morally presumptuous of you to decide for others what kind of clothes they want to dress their baby in. Thats the beauty of freedom, we all have the right to be offended. I see many things that offend me during my day, and you know what? I try to avoid them, I make it my choice. My decision. My responsibility.
Freedom of speech has its limits, as we all learnt with the Chaser’s ‘Make a Wish’ sketch. You simply can’t say whatever you want whenever you want, and you definitely can’t do so on a T-Shirt (obscene slogans can carry a hefty fine for the wearer!)
In my view, whilst the range of slogans wasn’t to my taste, they were on the whole fairly harmless…with the notable exception of the ‘They Shake Me’ slogan. Child abuse isn’t amusing in any way, shape or form, and I can’t imagine why any parent in their right mind would put their child in such a garment. Then again, there are a lot of parents out there who possibly aren’t in their right minds, given that last week I saw an anti-Semetic shirt (extolling the virtues of Hitler and the Haulocaust) on an infant. Clearly there are limits to our ‘freedom of speech’ for a reason. It’s worrying that such a large Australian company has had to learn this the hard way.
I don’t think it is morally presumptuous to pressure Cotton on to withdraw the tee-shirts at all!
Who would buy a t-shirt that endorsed child abuse? or the sexualisation of children? Its an attempt to be cool and edgy by being offensive. Is that a new marketing trick? Hardly. A try-hard trick more like.
And regarding Freedom of speech. What about the freedom and rights of child victims of abuse?
Just cos you can do something, dosnt mean you should!
How terrible. How long was it before Cotton On issued their statement? But seriously, a more difficult question: who the hell thought a t-shirt like that was a good idea in the first place?!
I don’t think it is morally presumptuous to pressure Cotton on to withdraw the tee-shirts at all!
This is an absolute outrage!! There is a little something called social responsibility and Cotton On threw that out the window when they decided to chuck a bunch of money into this product. What the hell is wrong with these people?? Who are they?? Are they a bunch of moronic drunken idiots smokin’ whacky tobacky who thought a slogan like “They shake me” on children’s clothing was the best idea in the world. They must think child abuse is a funny topic… hey, why stop there Cotton On, here’s some top slogans for your next line of clothing – “My step-father won’t stop touching me”, “My parents leave me home alone while they play the pokies to spend their dole money” or “My parents can’t afford to feed me”.
There was far better idea to deal with his company – tell them it was a fantastic idea, get everyone on borad to email them to say they would buy there product… let them spend tons of money to produce the products. have them on the shelves. Meanwhile the rest of us in army squadron mode, quietly spread the word to boycott. They don’t sell a dime of product… then they crash & burn… go bankrupt & we never hear from them again!!
Or is that a little too much…
Now – as far as “freedom of speech” is concerned – I believe in the right to speak your mind. Hey, look t the internet (and us here on this blog) it’s full of it – literally I guess. I have experienced a backlash over the years of people telling me I should be careful of what I say. It’s plain dumb – what are people afraid of?? I am not a person who in any way has/could/would say anything that would come anywhere near the “you shouldn’t say that” category. I am so harmless – it’s not funny!! And if ou read my blog you might say – “Sure that’s slightly amusing” or “That’s not really funny” or “I got a good laugh out of that” – I think people are afraid of creative people who think outside the square & how it would affect them.
I think it’s about common sense (I know – not alot of people have this), social awareness (yeah, I know!!) and making sure you pick your audience. It’s a balancing act and sure it’s great to push the boundaries but there are topics you should NEVER EVER exploit for the sake of the mighty dollar!!
Ad to prove my point – check out my blog http://www.wittysam.com
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest & having my say & BIG thanks for your time!!
Cheers,
Sam