Skittles Pulls Twitter Campaign

Tweet The end of twitter+skittles? Text from onlinemedia daily:
Skittles' Web site redesign via Twitter put the colorful coated candy in the spotlight, but the company pulled the campaign on Tuesday after pranksters started tweeting profanities that ended up on the company's home page.

The blogosphere started buzzing. Some wondered whether Skittles' marketers had gone too far in turning the brand's Web site into a snapshot of what people were writing about them on Twitter. Most Twitter users did not tweet about grape and lemon flavors, or buying the candy--but rather how Skittles, the Mars candy brand, got consumers talking about the treat.

By Tuesday the conversation soured on Twitter. The buzz quickly degenerated to pranksters writing negative and unrelated comments to fill Skittle's home page. By trusting consumers with content, Skittles opened up the brand to a wrath of backlash by losing control of the conversation.

Brand Keys President Robert Passikoff said the fiasco demonstrates the power of consumers. "If we had any doubt that the consumer is in control, this is the perfect case study that proves it," he said. "It's also additional proof that brands need a resonating authenticity among the community they want to serve."

Passikoff said the campaign also brought to light consumer sentiment about the brand based on freedom of speech on the Internet. "The good news is there is freedom of speech, and the bad news is there is freedom of speech," he said.

(source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101437)