Social media campaigns gone wrong
Insurance underwriters are starting to develop social media liability
insurance products to protect the companies and individuals behind campaigns. Social media law expert Verlie Oosthuizen weighs in.
PODCAST: Listerners share their thoughts on the #DoveAd that caused a social media uproar:
Read: Dove pulls ad after social media storm
It is often very difficult to anticipate how the audience will interpret an advert or whether it will cause offence. What is clear though is that in South Africa the sensitivities are magnified and the public are very quick to express their outrage on social media platforms, even calling for boycotts of products.
Also, these examples are not often covered by any common law because the advertising complained about is not overtly unlawful but rather “in bad taste”, and it is very difficult to legislate that.
Insurance underwriters are starting to develop social media liability
insurance products to protect companies, as well as individuals, from these types
of incidents.
It may be very difficult to quantify the types of financial losses that a company has suffered in these cases and how they would deal with the claims, but there are products to assist with public relations management when these types of crises occur.
The starting point, however, is a strong social media strategy and a
very experienced team dealing with social media campaigns. We would recommend a diverse group to “test”
the campaign before it goes live so that the particular sensitivities of the
population are considered.
Obviously, this slows down the campaign, but brands will not regret taking a little more time to avoid these types of disasters.
VERLIE OOSTHUIZENShepstone & Wylie Social Media Law Department
If a company did something similar to the #DoveAd, would you boycott the brand/product?