As social media has skyrocketed in popularity over the past several years, corporations have been using their platforms to spread movements and publicly point out issues in society.  In this regard, social media can be very detrimental to a company’s success if a mistake is made.  Social media is designed to target a huge demographic of different ages, sexes and personalities which can lead to disgruntled consumers if the wrong message is conveyed.

Dove is under harsh scrutiny over an advertisement they released that was deemed to be racist. Out of curiosity I researched the topic and found an interesting article by Rowan Morris. Rowan put a unique spin on his blog by analyzing how brands are affected by these sorts of controversies in the long run.  Interestingly enough, in this scenario Dove’s quarterly results have not changed and they still remain the leading bar liquid soap in the US. Furthermore, this is not the first time that Dove has been accused of racism. Nevertheless, Dove has been able to recover and maintain their “wholesome” image that they project to consumers. However, not all companies can remain unscathed.  For instance, Massey Energy had an explosion in their mine in 2010.  Due to poor safety regulations Massey was bombarded with lawsuits and were forced to shut down.

According to Alison Coleman from The Guardian, “The main principle for when PR crises hits brands they must be dealt with quickly and robustly in order to be contained”. It is a possibility that Dove could just be very efficient at covering up for their mistakes and that is why they have not suffered many long term consequences.

I believe that Dove must be held responsible for their actions. Personally, I don’t believe that what Dove was trying to portray was intentionally to discriminate against races. However, whether or not if the ad was intentionally racist is not a question.  Advertisements in this sort of style are presented in a way for the consumer to be able to connect on a personal level to the ad.  It is imperative that the company conveys their message in a way that the grey area does not exist.  Moving forward Dove needs to be more careful with what they are portraying.  It can only take one mistake for consumers to revolt and a company to come crashing down.

WC:390

Works Cited

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/06/the-10-companies-burned-worst-by-bad-press/240448/#slide7

https://www.mediacom.com/uk/think/blog/2017/dove-and-the-big-brand-pr-crisis

Images

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nigerian-model-featured-controversial-dove-ad-defends-campaign-n809396

Dove Company History and Review: Real Beauty, Real Soap!

After reading Charles Balcita’s article on the current movement towards the blocking of advertisements, I was enticed to dig deeper into the discussion.  Charles primary argument was based on consumers using ad blocker to save themselves a minor inconvenience.  He also outlined that this consumer trend led to an immense loss of online publisher revenue.

AdBlock - A popular ad blocking add on

I would like to investigate a specific instance where publishers were denied revenue but in this case from the side of the corporations.  For instance, on YouTube, a video and media sharing website that has blown up in the last few years has seen major, “community guideline changes”.  Content creators commonly known as YouTubers have seen a tank in revenue in early February this year.  The changes were implemented without warning or announcement and seemed to target the more mature content on the website.

The backstory consists of fed up companies that were tired of running ads on YouTube without having control on which videos their ads would play on. Major corporations such as, Coke and Pepsi pulled out of business with YouTube for this very reason. At this time, YouTube was feeling pressure from their advertisers. YouTube’s solution was to silently implement an algorithm which detected mature content.  Companies were able to choose characteristics they deemed inappropriate and YouTube’s system would automatically demonetize the video.

In theory, this implementation is reasonable as companies should have the right to have control over their advertisements as a children’s toy company would not want to advertise on videos with profanity. However, YouTube did not inform content creators on the details within the changes and overall have had terrible communication with YouTubers. Furthermore, the algorithm was faulty and often times demonetized videos that followed the community guidelines.

In my opinion, YouTube needs to learn to respect and value their content creators. In reality, these creators are YouTube’s subcontracted employees and they are not treated as such.  Content creators livelihoods are being toyed with by YouTube with no communication on how to change videos to meet community standards.  It is ridiculous that a video can have hundreds of thousands of views yet produce very little revenue. This has forced certain creators to start Patreon accounts to have their revenue crowd funded by donation. Instead of Content creators battling YouTube, both parties need to work together to improve their platform. YouTube must make an attempt to educate and inform their creators before a competitor emerges and steals a majority of YouTube’s creative minds.

WC:410

Works Cited:

Websites 

https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/10/15609660/youtube-youtuber-ad-money-google

AdBlocking – A Sign The Free Internet Is Changing

Images

https://getadblock.com/

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sites/youtube

Shocking but inevitable news was delivered to Canadian’s on tuesday.  Sears Canada announced they are shutting down operations in Canada. The shutdown consists of 166 stores across the country, leaving 12000 Canadians unemployed. It is estimated that, “The company has been losing about 1 million Canadian dollars a day” (NYT P2). When I was reading the article all that went through my mind was, how? How could a built up, internationally reputable brand run such high deficits after years in the market?  The answer became apparent,” customers are increasingly shifting their retail shopping to e-commerce” (NYT P3).  Consumers are now able to purchase the same goods, at a lower price, from the comfort of their home.  Companies such as Amazon can provide this luxury to consumers.  My next question was, why did Sears not adapt to the change in consumer preference? It turns out they did! Unfortunately with Sears Canada, “high shipping costs have limited the growth of online shopping in Canada relative to the United States” (NYT P3).  With a combination of consumer preference and location, Sears Canada is no longer feasible.

Sear's Canada location under liquidation

Sears Canada as an international corporation took a major hit. The trading price of a Sear’s stock is the lowest it’s been in 8 months. In fact, it has dropped over 13% in just two days. However, I want to discuss the impact the shutdown will have on Canadian citizens.  Some of my high school friends were hit particularly hard by this announcement. One of my friends currently works part time at Sears in Coquitlam to help subsidize his university tuition. This unexpected lack of income will force him to search out a new job opportunity. Unfortunately, in the meantime he will have to live off of savings. Furthermore, not only will the laid off employees feel the financial loss but also the, “18,000 retirees of Sears Canada may be facing cuts to their pension payments.”

Diagram outlining the ease of online shopping

At first glance Sears Canada’s announcement seemed to only effect the corporation.  However after analyzing the situation, I learned that there are many more stakeholders involved in the closure. In the current technological-driven day and age the retail world is constantly changing. Companies who cannot adapt will be forced to shut down because the movement to e-commerce is inevitable.

WC : 372

Works Cited

https://finance.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:SHLD&xpid=4132891&evtid=1cHjWfOKPMqIjwPfjqq4DA&ep=sr

Images

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/sears-closures-impact-small-communities-1.4353011

WooCommerce for your e-commerce

According to the 2017 index of human freedom, Canada is ranked the seventh freest country in the world. In most situations, Canadians can wake up, feeling safe with the ability to make their own decisions. However, this freedom is often taken for granted.  Individuals neglect the men and women who risk their lives every day to keep our country safe. Transitioning from a war-zone to regular society is extremely difficult and the current system we have implemented in Canada makes it even more difficult. As it stands, “to be eligible for benefits and services from Veterans Affairs Canada, a current or former member must wait months for the department to decide whether their illness or injury was a result of their service” (TGAM, P2).  This time period can become very stressful for ex-service officials as they rely on government funding.

Canadian Veterans

The government’s lack of urgency to assimilate soldiers back to Canadian society is frankly embarrassing. This topic is important to me as I have firsthand seen the effects that war can have on a person’s life.  My best friend’s brother, was stationed in the Afghanistan province of Kandahar.  His job was to convoy ally territory and scout the area for dangerous activity.  He left a young man with the ambition and pride to serve his country.  After being overseas for just under a year he returned home a shell of his former self. He struggled to transition back into society.  He would constantly struggle sleeping and suffered from anxiety attacks.  Loud noises would terrify him and in general he was not happy.  It was apparent professional help was required.  He applied for military benefits but did not hear back until 5 months later.

Canadian Soldiers in Kandahar 

In his case he was fortunate enough to have his family pay for immediate trauma counselling.  Furthermore, he has made a full recovery after several months of treatment. Unfortunately, some service men and women do not have access to the same support groups.  These individuals are forced to wait for months struggling with their internal demons.  The government has to do a better job at speeding up the acceptance process for post-military recovery.  It is essential that military officials are treated with the utmost respect and that we as a society pool together resources to help them make a fast recovery.

WC : 378

References – Websites

http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/injured-ill-military-personnel-deserve-an-easier-transition-to-civilian-life/article36392524/

Pictures

Veteran Image – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/veterans-affairs-to-cut-budget-by-226m-1.1002213

Canadian forces in Kandahar – http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada-prepares-to-pack-everything-for-kandahar-pullout-1.619397

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