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Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Nestle
Nestle has a big problem on their hands. They have many protesters on their hands because of the oil they use to make KitKat bars and some other products. They some of the palm oil that they purchase is made at a factory where they have deforested a lot of the area in rain forests in Indonesia. They say it is contributing to the extinction of orangutans and the loss of our rain forests. This has exploded on in the social media world. Protestors had posted a video on YouTube making Nestle look negative. This was obviously not a good thing for Nestle so they had it token down. The video has been continuously popping up on other video websites so they can't really stop it. Also on their Facebook page the protesters have been leaving comments saying negative things. Nestle tried to be defensive about it and explain themselves but the protesters ignored them and stayed strong. Nestle then tried to hide these comments and delete them all but this just made the fan base of protesters rise at an alarming rate. This is an example of how social media can turn ugly for companies quick. It makes it easy for protesters and people trying to put a negative image on your business to get information out their that is hurtful to your business. Most times social media is a good idea but at times it hurts businesses if they don't use it properly. I think the protesters were acting in a responsible way because they disagreed with what was happening so they made it known. Facebook and Youtube are out their to get information and people's ideas out their. So if its positive or negative it doesn't matter, it's how Facebook was made to use. I think the protesters have a point because they are contributing to the extinction to species and to rain forests but there's probably a lot of other businesses that do the same thing or maybe even worse. So I think the protesters have a point but Nestle needs to do what they need to do to make their product and make money. The numbers that they presented that said how much they actually get from this company was minute so I don't think it is that big of a deal.
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You bring up a good point about users being able to do what they want on Facebook. That is the point of Facebook for people to voice their opinions right or wrong.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the whole thing is a big deal either.
our entire world is one big food chain when we look at the big picture. I feel the whole thing was a little ridiculous. I do however feel nestle should not have deleted things because that does look bad. Nobody is perfect and negative comments should be allowed to an extent because that is how you learn. However I do not believe either parties were very responsible in it and it got taken a little far. This is the first I am even hearing about this so it will be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteI also think its a little ridiculous. I agree that everybody has a right to protest about things they don’t like, but c'mon. Organizations like Greenpeace and PETA look for things to complain about and this seems like one of them. I don't think it's a big deal. I'd like to see the percentage of ingredients used in everyday foods that are destroying something out there in this world....I bet the number is fairly large.
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