Perfect Example Of Social Media Gone Wrong

Sometimes even the best social media campaigns can go wrong.  Certain situations should never be part of a contest.

Original Post : Simply Zesty

We’ve seen lots of great awareness campaigns through social media that have made a real difference to charities. But sometimes the charity angle gets taken a little bit too far and a campaign that’s intended to do good can actually end up doing the complete opposite. A new campaign that’s just been launched by NBC provides a good example of this and will hopefully provide a bit of perspective for when you’re planning your next social media campaign. Yesterday NBC 10 launched a campaign in association with the Ocean State Animal Coalition. If the NBC 10 Facebook Page reaches 50,000 fans by February 29th, they will donate $5,000 to the center, which is committed to fighting against euthanasia in unwanted pets.

The implication being that if they don’t reach these numbers…..more animals will die?

 

While the video uses the quirky Facebook angle to generate interest, unsurprisingly they have ominously left out what will happen if they don’t reach the target number of fans.

Something has gone wrong

Something has gone a little bit wrong with social media, when a campaign like this is run, literally leaving the fate of animal’s lives down to something as trivial as a Facebook Like. Should the charity/animals not be deserving of the donation regardless? It has added an element of gamification into something that shouldn’t really be gamed. Some perspective is needed here, to understand the role that social media plays in society. While of course the awareness gained for the charity is a good thing, the campaign is an unfortunate casualty in the race for numbers and Likes in social media, seeing this as the ultimate currency.

Surely NBC can gain more social currency with a well thought out campaign that sees the charity get the money regardless, but uses Facebook in a fun way to build awareness of the cause? This then turns into the story of a company doing good to help those in need, instead of using those in need to help them reach an arbitrary goal.