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May 26

Boycott BP campaign takes hold through social media sites

Brand Marketing, Social Networking Add comments

Post by Wayne Attwell

I’ve been watching the growing furore about BP and their oil spill on some of the social media sites and it’s interesting to see how the consumer call for boycotts are creating a groundswell of popular support. At this stage there are several FaceBook and blog sites devoted to this with membership/following growing daily.

FaceBook.com/Boycott BP
FaceBook.com/1,000,000 Strong to Boycott BP
thepetitionsite.com/boycott BP gas stations
ricksblog.biz
boycottbp.blogspot.com/dont buy these brands

There is also a 'Boycott BP' channel running on YouTube with some vociferous commentary.

It will be interesting to see how far the social media consumer can push in terms of influencing this corporate behemoth. You will recall how a consumer backlash against Cadbury forced them to backtrack on the introduction of palm oil into their milk chocolate product.

Other related articles:
Online consumers are Cadbury's brand managers
Keep track of your online reputation

I just wonder whether enough popular support can be generated via social media to force a player such as BP into changing the way they do business. Perhaps this may be a bit of a litmus test of the power consumers have recently acquired through social media that enable them to influence the outcome of brands.

Interestingly, not only is there a call for a consumer boycott on BP fuel, but on all products and brands owned by BP, including Wild Bean coffee. If the boycott call gathers enough strength, it could do some real damage to BP’s retail counter sales for fuel as well as coffee, a strong revenue and profit contributor to store sales.

Perhaps there is a good opportunity for the likes of Starbucks to generate some positive exposure by promoting their Fair Trade and eco clean coffee as a more socially palatable alternative to BP’s ‘tainted’ Wild Bean blend. Whittakers Chocolate did just that against Cadbury and won some serious market share for their brand.

4 comments

  1. § Sheldon Nesdale Email said on : 26/05/10 @ 17:40
    Interesting. I was looking at the 1 million strong Facebook page you linked to and it occured to me that I could easily click the "Like" button to add my support to the list but not actually change my behaviour i.e. I will continue to use BP. If I was BP I would freak out at 1 million fans of that page, but perhaps they won't be losing 1 million customers?
  2. § Wayne Attwell® Email said on : 26/05/10 @ 18:07
    That's quite possible Sheldon, but I believe that once you commit to a cause by 'liking' it, you subconsciously align yourself with it's values. I know that my family don't consume Cadbury products any longer, and we're not even chocoholics. Only time will tell how committed consumers will be to the 'Boycott BP' cause and whether it makes any difference to sales.

    Also, don't underestimate the damage that bad press and unpopular opinion can have on a company's share price, hurting them perhaps far more than boycotting retail purchases. The broken guitar guy and his social media activities hit the stock price of the airline that broke his guitar and refused to compensate him, stripping millions of dollars of value.
  3. § Sandra Clark Email said on : 31/05/10 @ 13:51
    *****
    it will certainly take some smart marketing to pull them out of this one.
  4. § Andrew Cooke Email said on : 04/06/10 @ 19:49
    Surely not Wild Bean coffee?? How will we survive?

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