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Consumers turn brands' social media pages into complaint boards
When consumers flooded Cheerios' Facebook page with negative comments about the use of GMOs in the kid-friendly cereal, the company removed some of the comments, but left others. Will it make a difference?
Fri, Dec 07 2012 at 12:43 PM
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Photo: Michael Himbeault/flickr
When the GMO Inside group asked its Facebook followers to go to the Cheerios Facebook page and comment about the company's use of genetically-modified ingredients in the kid-friendly cereal, the Cheerios Facebook page got flooded with negative remarks.
In fact, General Mills, the makers of Cheerios, removed an app on the Facebook page that allowed users to create messages about what Cheerios meant to them because people were creating messages that said things like “Poison” and “Deception.” That can’t be what General Mills was hoping to find. All of the comments made with the app have been removed from the Facebook page, but regular comments, like the one below, are still there.
I used to feed Cheerios to my first child all the time. Now that I am better educated on GMOs, I am DISGUSTED at the fact that I was naive enough to believe that at the time I was actually feeding her something healthy. I know much better now, and will never again let another Cheerios pass my children's lips until they are GMO-free.
It’s becoming more common for consumers to launch dissatisfaction campaigns on companies’ social media sites. Last summer, Twitter users bashed McDonalds when the fast-food company started the #McDStories campaign. McDonalds had hoped people would talk up their food, but instead they got thousands of tweets that said things like “One time I walked into McDonalds and could smell type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up. #McDStories.”
Do attacks on social media pages of companies do any good? There’s no evidence that McDonald's changed anything but perhaps their marketing plans because of the comments they received on Twitter.
Kashi, however, did listen to consumers when something similar happened. Earlier this year, consumers took to Kashi’s Facebook page to let them know that they felt misled by Kashi’s “all natural” claims even though some of their products are made with GMOs. Within a month of the consumer social media campaign, Kashi told consumers about their “long-term initiative to produce significantly more organic and Non-GMO Project Verified foods.”
So will General Mills take the McDonald's route and simply change their marketing practices but not their production practices, or will they listen to consumers and change their product? I don’t have a crystal ball, but considering the fact that General Mills reportedly donated more than $1.1 million to defeat Proposition 37 in California that would have required GMO labeling on foods, I’d say the odds are in favor of them taking the McDonald's route.
Wouldn’t you? But, wouldn’t it be wonderful if General Mills proved us wrong?
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to bad you paid 1.1 million dollars to keep it hidden that you have gmo's in your cereal, i am another person that will not buy your cereal to feed to any of us , I will no longer buy general mills or kellog products until they are GMO free, i bet you don't feed this to your children a product that is owned by monsanto, at least you are in their pocket.
I guess you read on the internet that there is nothing wrong with GMOs, right?????????? If you read it on the internet, it must be right. They don't lie on the internet!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry Ob3, got carried away. No insults intended. I thought about it and if you can't believe in our government, who can you believe? Ha. I live in Europe and the stuff is banned-period. However, Monsantos lawyers probably have a bigger budget than many small countries so we'll see how long it's banned. I grew up in the US and must have eaten tons of GMO...the doctor said the tumor will eventually.........
Hi Ob3
I know that the internet is seriously susceptible to, let's say, variations of the truth. I did NOT read GMOs are OK, but nothing ANYWHERE that they are bad! Show me from a reputable source they are bad. And I don't mean you blogger paranoids that believe everything you read on the internet. :0
Show me ANYWHERE that GMO food is even slightly bad. If it was, do you think it would be in so called "kid-friendly" food much less on the market at all? You people should use your personal and computer time to do something useful. Kid friendly Cheerios. What a joke. I prefer Sugar Smacks. Or are they GMO corn syrup smacks. Whatever.
Of course they would! It is all about money! If you think the USDA cares anything about our health, you are living in la-la land. They only care about the welfare of the companies that grease their palms the most.
Wake up!
All you have to do is search "dangers of gmos" or "gmo studies" on any search engine and you will find research articles about how gmos are harmful to our health.
When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each and every time a comment is added I get 4 emails using the same comment. Is there any way you could eliminate me from that service? Thanks!
If you click the "I no longer wish to receive comments from this thread" area of the comment, the comments will stop.