Timeline of the Greenpeace anti-KitKat social media campaign

In class on Monday we discussed web video and how organizations use it to disseminate their messages. One of the examples we looked at was Greenpeace's new video aimed at pressuring Nestlé into dropping its use of palm oil in the production of KitKat bars.



Nestlé immediately demanded that the video be removed from YouTube citing copyright infringement. YouTube agreed and removed the video -- thereby creating a stir that eventually got traditional media outlets interested in the story. Nestlé made matters worse with a number of angry comments it posted to its Facebook fan site. As a result, Nestlé is getting hammered with negative comments on its Facebook site. I'm not even sure you can still call it a fan site at this point... What's most amazing to me is that Nestlé has apparently abandoned its Facebook page. The company hasn't reacted to the onslaught of criticism since last Friday's comments.






For a timeline of the events that lead to this PR crisis, check out this great slideshow:

NESTLE KERFUFFLE on Prezi

For a an excellent analysis of Nestle's crisis response (or lack thereof), check Jeremiah Owyang's post & also this SocialMediaToday report.

Also check out the Brand Builder's 2 part series on How to make sure your Facebook page doesn't become a Trojan horse (part1, part2).

Viral Marketing & Viral Video Slides

Here's the slideshow for our discussion of viral video. Click on each slide to navigate to the next. It's a big file, so it may take a second to load.

Analysis of Viral Video Trends

Considering our latest discussions of viral video, you might be interested in the following article series on YouTube trends from the No Man's Blog.

This series of 5 reports examines the most viewed videos (all time, monthly, & weekly) on YouTube and provides some interesting insights into what goes viral.

Honor Hunger Week by Entering the UN World Food Programme Viral Video Contest

As St. Edward's University is getting ready to honor national Hunger Week, you can participate in your own way by practicing your newly acquired viral video production skills and producing a 30 or 60 second video that raises awareness about world hunger.

The United Nations World Food Programme is calling on amateur video producers to put their creativity to good use in an effort to influence public opinion about world hunger. The detailed call for entries can be found on the Hunger Bytes YouTube page. The submission deadline is midnight August 1, 2008 - so there is plenty of time to get your entries in and make your contribution to the fight against hunger.

Here's another fun (and educational) way to honor the spirit of Hunger Week and improve your vocab at the same time. The FreeRice website donates 10 grams of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme for each word you get right on their vocabulary test. According to their site, "When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people." A creative idea IMHO!

Dove Onslaught Video - The follow-up to the Evolution Video

Here's the newest Dove video, a follow-up to the "Evolution" video we discussed today.