Buzz-SAWED

Recently Chapstick blew it. Thinking it had a great idea for using social media, it posted on its Facebook fan page, "Where do Lost Chapsticks Go? Be heard at facebook.com/Chapstick." Scintillating, right? But they botched it further because the ad showed a woman with her hind end in the air presumably searching for her Chapstick. Tone deaf, anyone? Fans were "heard," all right. Chapstick was flooded with posts about its "sexist" ad. And guess what the company did? Deleted them as fast as they came in. The more negative comments increased, the faster they were deleted, this all from Stuart Elliott at The New York Times on Monday. According to Elliott, Adfreak, a blog that's part of adweek.com, "denounced the brand's 'silent war against its Facebook fans', as an 'example of 'a social media death spiral.'" When will we learn? Let our critics speak and respond appropriately, or step into the buzz saw. Think Chapstick learned its lesson? Guess you could say it bombed? Deborah DiSesa Hirsch PRblogger.blogspot.com b2bstoryteller.biz