It is also testament to the power of new forms of social media.
I was at my desk, (which sounds better than saying ‘I was in bed reading Facebook updates on my phone’), when I saw a FB message sent Saturday from my fellow advocate for girls, Dannielle Miller. It was about a Harvey Norman ad she’d heard on Sydney radio station Nova:
So I thought I’d send a few tweets about it while working yesterday afternoon. While I had hoped the tweets would make their way to the company at some stage, I hadn’t realised Harvey Norman was also @HarveyNorman – on twitter.
Here’s a couple from the first batch I sent:
I called for a boycott. Harvey Norman was next on the list for Collective Shout’s ‘Cross ‘em off your Christmas list’ campaign (Don’t give sexploitation companies your Xmas dollar).
My twitter followers got fired up. One was about to buy a TV from Harvey Norman. Not anymore. @Cbngal tweeted this:
Then this lobbed into to my twitter feed:
I realised Harvey was also hanging around the twitterverse on a Sunday afternoon. And reading my tweets, including a re-working of the ‘Go Harvey Norman’ theme (suggesting where they could go, which probably wasn’t very nice).
Then this:
Journalist Sandra Lee @Fittoprint tweeted ‘the smell of victory’. I hoped she was right but didn’t want to expect too much.
Gary Wheelhouse, head of social media for Harvey Norman, then emailed me:
So I tweeted on his prompt reply. And expected to hear back on Monday.
Forty-five minutes later I received this:
Lyndal Gabriel heads up Harvey Norman’s radio and TV advertising.
Ms Gabriel informed me that the ad had just started running on the weekend, only on NOVA, and was pulled at 8pm. She emailed this comment this morning:
As a Retailer we do not wish to offend anybody, and as such when Gary picked up the comments on Social Media, we immediately acted and pulled the ad.
So all in all a mere four hours of action for the ultimate result.
While of course you have to ask who it was at Harvey Norman that thought this ad appropriate to run at all, I think it is important to commend corporations who recognise they stuffed up and act promptly to make amends.
The only other time I have seen a comparatively quick response was when Best & Less acted speedily to withdraw a padded push-up bra – for tweenagers – after I blogged about it in February. (In contrast, some retailers – like Roger David – don’t bother responding at all).
I really hope this account gives encouragement to other activists and would-be activists, that we really can make a difference. Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation has achieved some significant wins in its first year. Get on board, shout out against sexploitation in all its forms.
19 Responses
It’s bizarre to think how far removed the people who manage Harvey Norman’s public image must be from the people who create it, that they had to ask you for the details of their own corporate wreckage!
Massive props once again to Danielle, Melinda, and Team Collective Shout.
MTR = Melinda Totally Rox! (I wish I could make the font bigger and bright red!!!)
Congratulations ONCE AGAIN for being the voice of COMMON SENSE to these corporates who continually push the line. You empower others and speak for millions (including some who don’t even realise it yet!).
More power to you Melinda.
Wonderful!
Wow wow – great work!
I think you may find that Harvey Norman stores are indiviually owned and operated as franchises. As the ad was only on one station, I wonder if if was only one store? I would imagine if this is the case the franchisee in question will have a little rap over the knuckles.
It was smart of Harvey Norman to act so swiftly to protect their brand. I am impressed by their quick response. Back on my Christmas shopping destinations list!!
It can’t be easy as a large corporation to monitor every media campaign, for all we know it was the radio station at fault? Id like to give credit to Harvey Norman as well as Mel, for acting so fast and taking this seriously.
That is amazing! Have to give some props to HN for pulling the add.
Great result. How awesome to be heard so well by HN.
Melinda you are awesome! I personally cannot thank you enough for this work you are doing, and I thank you on behalf of my daughter, and all the other women who haven’t heard your name yet. It is just wonderful to hear about this and see someone who has the power to stand up, not let it go, and actually have such a response. For too long now society has become complacent and desensitize … No more! Enough is enough. It is appalling to me that Santa can come even close to a lap dance….seriously!
Well done, thank you.
Once again a big thank you to Melinda, Danielle and the team at Collective Shout for their wonderful work.
Fantastic result!
Well done everyone!
Great example of people powered media, questioning a companies behaviour and not only getting a swift answer, but getting a swift result.
Hats off to Harvey Norman for walking the talk.
As much as I support Melinda’s role in this incident I can’t resist to spot dangerous phenomena – people accepting tweet as valid source of the information and acting on it. Like the person that on the spot decided not to buy TV at HN. Did he/she listen to the ad? What about if this was competitor spreading false information to hurt HN? Even Melinda couldn’t say this was true information. Her action was based on FB message on friend’s account. If I want to hurt some business I’ll just make effort to get FB login for Dannielle’s account, make a post on her behalf and I’ll know that ‘social misinformation’ domino is rolling… I’m sure we will hear real stories of this kind of attacks in years to come.
Greg
Sorry but I don’t agree.
You people need to get a life.
Thanks Greg.
There is a difference between a reliable and trusted source and an unreliable, untrusted or unknown source. I’ve worked with Dannielle for some years and used material she had given me in the past. Also my background is in journalism, I understand the importance of reliable sources.
Had I been wrong, it would have been my reputation harmed, not Harvey Normans.
Sorry, but I don’t understand what the big deal is.
Poor Santa. Why doesn’t he deserve a lap dance.
Good story, well told. Thank you. As it was only on one station and Gary Wheelhouse needed info to find it, the suggestion about individual franchisees would make sense. That in turn indicates that franchises would be smart to have policies and guidance in place such that each franchisee can understand the role they play in relation regarding social media. From conversations I have with franchisees in various industries I can quite imagine a franchisee not getting the connection between a radio spot and Twitter!
Gerry Harvey should be giving that guy a raise for being on the case, on Twitter, on a Sunday afternoon and taking immediate action.
The story, and Wheelhouse’s action, reminded me of the legendary firefighting job @ScottMonty did for Ford in the incident of the Ranger Station site – Dec ’08.
Well said Lizzy.
This is a perfect example of the empty can rattling the most, a minority opinion at best. It astounds me to see the likes of HN bowing down to these bored extremists that have nothing better to do than take cheap shots at people getting on with their lives.
HN Has lost my business for being so pathetic.
I don’t get it…. This is just the latest in a long line of crass, intrusive, condescending marketing campaigns…ALL Harvey Norman ads are totally and utterly offensive, the only mystery is why we (consumers) respond to ANY of their awful marketing which treats us as such morons.