Death By Facebook: Bic Pen Edition

Bic Pens really needs to pay attention. The company has a history of FAILS when it comes to women's issues and gender stereotypes.  If you need a history refresher, watch this Ellen segment that happened after Bic's release of the Bic Pen for Her.   I'll let the video do the talking on that one.

But this weekend, in honor of South Africa's National Women's Day, the company committed another huge faux pas.  The pen manufacturer posted a photo on its Facebook page that is cringe-worthy, especially in the light that it is supposed to be honoring women!  The post read, "Look like a girl.  Act like a lady.  Think like a man.  Work like a boss."  Yikes.   Is this really telling us that women, young ones especially, excel at looking good, while men excel at thinking?? Why would a brand ever want to send this message?

As you can imagine, the social media world did not take nicely to this, with millions of comments and rebuttals on Facebook, Twitter and even mock reviews on the company's Amazon products.  Per usual, the offending post was removed and apologies were issued. Bringing us to another nugget that I find interesting about this occurrence.  Originally, Bic's apology mentioned that it found this quote on a popular Women In Business blog site.  There, you will see that it was in fact used, way back in 2012, but received thumbs ups and likes on that platform. 

This got me thinking.  Why is the same quote received as positive and empowering when posted in a women's blog but received as obvious buffoonery when posted by a brand?

Do you think there is a difference?  Is this an offensive comment either way, or is it better when it is posted by a woman in a blog?

Is GIRL POWER the fastest way to go VIRAL?

We've gotta talk about #AlexFromTarget. 

I mean, if nothing else, we have to just bring it up.  It's only been a week since this young man's picture was tweeted as a "cute" bagger from Target.  But the week has certainly been eventful.  With his handsome smile and boyish good-looks, Alex has - without doing a single thing other than unknowingly had his picture tweeted - gained half a million followers on Twitter, been featured on the Ellen show and CNN and become one of the fastest and most popular memes of all times.

But perhaps the most unique aspect of the #AlexFromTarget phenomenon is that it might have been set up.  Strangely, earlier this week a company called Breakr claimed that it was behind the rise to fame of #AlexFromTarget.  

Breakr's CEO, Dil-Domine Jacobe Leonares, claimed that his company's goal of helping small content creators spread their content was the force behind the viral sensation of #AlexFromTarget.  And the key to this viral nature, Leonares claims, is girls.

"If you rally the fan girls, you can translate that following into a career," Leonares claims.  Sure enough, "fan girls" are powerful.  A lady sees a cute boy and tells her friend who tells her friend who shares it with everyone she knows.  I mean, really, the Jonas Brothers and Justin Beiber are just modern day version of Beatles fandom!  And, with social media today, the fandom rise is just that much faster.  Or in the case of #AlexFromTarget, takes place in a week!  Heck, he is in LA now looking for an agent!

So, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding #AlexFromTarget, who tweeted this morning that he had dever heard of Breakr. Hmmmm.  Well one thing I can agree on is that fan girls are really the key to getting anything to go viral.  That's why our firm, Casey & Sayre, always strives to bring young celebrities that appeal to teen girls to our client events!  Their tweets and instagrams go a long way in attracting interest and building fans!

What do you think of the sudden fame of #AlexFromTarget?

Emmy Awards Edition: Can you really PLAN a Social Media/TV Moment?

There are some live TV/ Social Media moments that are just pure gold.  Think of Ellen's famous selfie during the last Oscars that went viral, or the Oreo ad from the Superbowl power outage in 2013.  But last night's Emmy Awards makes me wonder if those moments just can't always be planned.  

This year's Emmys were advertised as being the "Most Social Media Friendly Event Ever", with brands from Twitter to Facebook to Pinterest getting in on the action.  Pinterest pages being updated in real time with fashion content.  Twitter debuted a zip-line camera feed.  Even video vignette mogul Vine joined the party with a "360-station" to record videos on the red carpet.

But.... looking back on the event.... what really STUCK?

You know the phrase, "If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority"?  I think of that about last night's Emmys social media presence.  There was just too many things all trying to happen.  No one event could capture enough attention to really make it monumental.

Sure there were many tweet-worthy moments.  The Robin Williams tribute was beautiful, Sofia Vergara's spotlight on the spinning pedestal, the audience "Q&A", but I'd be surprised if we were referencing any of these as social media "hits" a year from now.

What did you think of the Emmys?  Any awesome moments I'm just not seeing?