Also, brand shepherds of all kinds tend to be a nervous lot to begin with because there’s something ineffable about their metier — so much of it is ephemeral, immeasurable, unpredictable, beyond their control; and yet they operate in a busness climate and environment that demands constant demonstrations of control, competence, and expertise. The budgets also tend to demand these things. Cognitive dissonance and insecurity are built into the biz.

Perhaps I’ll write the folks involved and see if I can finally tell it.

reading it, i remembered this hullaballoo on your blog – http://mihow.com/articles/2008/11/18/my-unfiltered-thoughts-about-the-motrin-hubbub/

I remembered how vocal some people were on that thread… and how Michele has often received really mean messages whenever she said something that didn’t agree with the sensibilities of a mean spirited loudmouth.

I thought it was neat that this article showed numbers that prove those people are inconsequential.

So whenever you get a mean message , you can think of this article and remember that these are just loudmouths, idiots, and people who don’t matter.

Scary. See, that’s dangerous. That’s a perfect example of something bordering on dangerous.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/28/dunkin-donuts-pulls-ad-fe_n_103859.html

It’s just plain more entertaining for readers and more satisfying for writers to complain about things rather than offer anything really constructive.

It’s Neighborhood Gossip 2.0 – now it’s published, archive-able, and spread to the masses before you even give it a second thought. And it’s going to continue because it’s easy but powerful. You don’t even have to make a totally coherent argument because it’s harder to refute whatever you’ve presented than it is to climb on board with it.