Oh come on! Seriously. Why is this so hard?
Yes, there is another company shutting down comments to their Facebook wall, ignoring tweets, deleting comments, and going silent.
This time it’s Claire’s Stores, who is accused of ripping off independent jewelry designer, Tatty Devine.
Last week the U.K. designer blogged, “Can You Spot the Difference?” and showed their designs next to images of the Claire’s mass-produced jewelry.
Looks pretty darn similar to me. And Tatty Devin loyalists thought so, too, taking to Twitter to tweet irate messages to @clairesstores.
But there is nothing from Claire’s, who is updating Facebook as if nothing is going on. Their post from yesterday?
Not only are they pretending like nothing is happening, they’ve closed the ability for anyone to comment on their wall or tag them in status updates.
As well, they’ve deleted any criticisms, according to Aisling Cahill, who twice commented and twice had it removed.
A quick look at their Twitter stream from last week shows they’re tweeting as if nothing is happening.
But my favorite? The editor from BusinessZone, a U.K. online publication with 400,000 visitors per month, has tried to get in touch with the company, to no avail. He even tried posting to their Facebook wall (and wasn’t deleted), but there has been no answer.
If you’re going to pretend social media is a joke or a fad or for the kids and doesn’t matter to your business growth, I suppose that’s your right. But to ignore journalists for days? That breaks every crisis PR 101 rule.
Every, single one.
I know everyone who reads Spin Sucks gets it. None of you work for these companies nor would you ever advise they stick their heads in the sand and wait for it all to blow over.
So how do we get the PR professionals advising companies, such as Claire’s and Carnival, to read Spin Sucks? They clearly need it. Badly.
Because, right now, I’m preaching to the choir.