Sometimes you read something that just hits you in the face and you have to pass it on. Yesterday, this article by Alison Pearson in The Daily Telegraph was brought to my attention – http://bit.ly/iibrBr
To anyone that works in marketing or the communications industries, I believe the moral of this story is so important, and that it is so brilliantly and concisely written, that I make no apologies for bypassing the link and posting the text below:
“Sarah Palin has lashed out at those seeking to blame her for the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, which ended in the death of six bystanders. Palin avoided details of her notorious graphic which placed Giffords’s Arizona district in the crosshairs of a gun with the caption: “Don’t retreat: RELOAD!”
Palin insists that political debate has always been heated. True enough. The difference today is the internet, which has irreparably poisoned public discourse. On Palin’s Facebook page, one commenter on the Arizona shootings said: “It’s OK. Christina Taylor Green was probably going to end up a Left-wing bleeding heart liberal anyway… what would you do if you had the chance to kill Hitler as a kid? Exactly.”
Christina Green was the nine-year-old girl shot dead by Jared Loughner. Where is it considered acceptable to suggest that the murder of a child has an upside? Online, that’s where. Anonymous internet commentary has given people a shield which allows them to vent the worst in themselves with no consequences. I’m sure Sarah Palin would never echo the views of her more deranged supporters; all the more reason not to trigger their madness with her bang-bang rhetoric in the first place.”
Beware of what people might say about your business or brand online.
And be very careful about what you claim online or offline.
That’s all I can say.