Where did my Mrs Balls NSEP posts go?
Last year there was a ridiculous campaign created for “Mrs Balls” the chutney. The whole idea behind the campaign that I thought was rather stupid, was associating food with a toilet sign, with the oh so coked up idea of the National Skirt Extension Project (NSEP).
I received this email from a “brand manager” at Unilever… rather fascist me thinks:
It has come to our attention that various posts relating to Mrs H.S. Ball’s products, specifically those dated 15th & 16th April 2009, have been placed on the website www.neuromance.co.za , which is registered to your name.
We are concerned that the above posts contain negative aspersions about our Mrs H.S. Ball’s product and may undermine the perception of our brand in consumers’ minds.
As you will appreciate, we have invested a substantial sum in the development of the brand in South Africa and internationally and believe that these posts are harmful to the Mrs H.S. Ball’s brand.
To these ends, we request your cooperation in removing these posts from your website within the next 3 days.
Kind Regards on behalf of
THE BRAND MANAGER
I thought about it for a little and sent this:
hello,
you did not say please.
Anyway I had a good laugh when I got this:
Please will you remove these posts from your website.
We look forward to your co-operation.
Kind Regards on behalf of
THE BRAND MANAGER
Unfortunately I did remove them as I felt rather pleased having a corporate grovelling at my feet…. I a mere mortal. I still think they are draconian fascists for getting upset about my posts which weren’t even about their chunky chutney but rather associating chunky chutney with toilet signs.
Surely if they put something into the public domain they should face public reaction?
“sign a deal with them to positively push their brand”.
To do so- and not declare a personal interest- would be to engage in a version of corruption, chris.
This sort of thing is always tricky. From your side, you’re more than entitled to your own opinion and if you want to keep the post up there’s little they can do. On the other hand, from their side, they obviously want good publicity and this would be a stab at their brand, so if you’re happy knowing that they’re not impressed, then it’s all good, otherwise removing it, like you did, is the nice thing to do.
The trick here is to remove the post and sign a deal with them to positively push their brand under the agreement that you get free Mrs Balls for 6 months
Corporates will forever fear us bloggers, c’est la vie.