Dominos Pizza has responded to concerns that their Facebook ads were showing up next to Holocaust Denial content.
I had a long telephone conversation with Phil Lozen, Social Media Specialist for Dominos. He outlined their position and efforts to make sure their Facebook ads no longer appeared next to any Anti-Semitic content on Facebook whether it be groups, pages, group listings, search listings etc.
I was also taken to task for implying in the opening paragraph of my article that they had knowledge of this issue and then subsequently stating that they were probably unaware. I felt my choice of words with “it seems” took care of that but to any extent that any company feels I wrongly impugned what they knew or did not know, I apologize. That was not my intent. I plead literary license to make a point gone haywire.
Here is the email from Mr. Lozen. Click on the email to get the larger view. It is a model to follow for all other companies who care about socially conscious branding in world of hate gone haywire. It also proves that Facebook can and will make the necessary adjustments if pushed. Are you listening yet Mark Zuckerberg? Do you get it?
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June 12th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Suddenly developed tast for Dominos Pizza and putting them on speed dial! Thanks BCuban from Twitter.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Great job Brian for finding out about this glitch.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Brian-
You're right about the email being a model, but I think that their overall response is a model of how large corporations should and can respond quickly to SM issues. As news travels fast, brands have to remedy negative situations promptly. Domino's did so in just the right way. Mr. Lozen's reaching out to you personally was a nice touch, and it probably didn't take too much time/effort to do so. A model indeed.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
See also:
Companies Respond to JIDF about Their Ads Appearing Beside Hateful Facebook Content
http://www.thejidf.org/2009/06/companies-repsond-…
June 13th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
As you can see from this email, you had a very inflammatory post up entitled "20 Companies In The Business Of Holocaust Denial." An arguably defamatory statement. I don't think I mis-characterized anything. You of course have since taken the post down which pretty much rests my case.
http://www.briancuban.com/wp-content/uploads/2009…
June 13th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
i, for one, have avoided their lousy pizza for years … beyond the fact that it's just bad pizza their bad politics have always left a bad taste in my mouth. just the idea of domino's makes me choke, and frankly i'd be surprised if there weren't some reason that their ads showed up there … founder backed anti-abortion causes years ago … and while he's long gone, that sort of sentiment tends to breed itself …
June 13th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Actually, we took it down, since it only served as a "rough draft" and precursor to our current campaign to inform 50 companies and thus, was fairly irrelevant. However, since you brought it up, we have put it back up to prove the point. As you can see, in the post:
20+ Companies in the Business of Holocaust Denial Via Facebook
http://www.thejidf.org/2009/06/20-companies-in-bu…
We were asking for people to help us gather contact information for our campaign in order to inform the companies of the issue and ask them to remove their ads.
The operative term is "via Facebook" – all along we have said that Facebook is 100% responsible for the problem. If advertisers were "enabling" Holocaust denial, that would assume that they knew of the problem.
Why would we initiate a campaign to inform advertisers if we assumed that they knew of the issue?
June 13th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Furthermore, let's hear your argument about said "defamation." Here's ours to disprove of it:
A) Companies are in business of advertising on Facebook
B) Companies ads are side-by-side with Holocaust denial content
C) Since Facebook does not take action against those groups,
D) Companies are "in the business of Holocaust denial VIA FACEBOOK"
E) Because of that fact, the JIDF launched a campaign to inform them of the issue, so they would take the proper action
Now, please argue what can be considered "defamatory" and why.
June 13th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
I have no interest in moving sideways with this crap. I said what I had to say. I stand by what I wrote, I am moving on.
June 15th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Domino’s founder sold the business over a decade ago and is no longer involved at all. And to IMPLY that his opinions are held by 140,000 diverse individuals involved with the company today is at best impractical. 90% of the current leadership wasn’t even here 10 years ago…it’s a different company. Our goal has always been and will always remain to deliver great pizza to people’s homes. Their personal beliefs and opinions, and ours as individuals, are varied…and separate from our work.
June 15th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Phil, my post referred to Dominos strictly in the corporate sense, I was referring to corporate advertising policies only.
June 15th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Brian I totally understand that. My comment was in response to the comment left by Cathy and not anything to do with your story.
June 16th, 2009 at 1:07 am
The article was briefly taken down, since it was a rough draft to our current campaign against 50 companies and some folks were getting confused between the two. However, it's back up now. There's nothing to hide:
http://www.thejidf.org/2009/06/20-companies-in-bu…
We simply disagree that the title is "arguably defamatory" and/or implies that advertisers "enable" Holocaust denial. The JIDF has ALWAYS put the onus of responsibility on Facebook.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:20 am
Posted this reply in the wrong place:
The article was briefly taken down, since it was a rough draft to our current campaign against 50 companies and some folks were getting confused between the two. However, it's back up now. There's nothing to hide:
<a href="http://www.thejidf.org/2009/06/20-companies-in-bu…” target=”_blank”>http://www.thejidf.org/2009/06/20-companies-in-bu…
We simply disagree that the title is "arguably defamatory" and/or implies that advertisers "enable" Holocaust denial. The JIDF has ALWAYS put the onus of responsibility on Facebook.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:20 am
Posted this reply in the wrong place:
The article was briefly taken down, since it was a rough draft to our current campaign against 50 companies and some folks were getting confused between the two. However, it's back up now. There's nothing to hide:
http://www.thejidf.org/2009/06/20-companies-in-bu…
We simply disagree that the title is "arguably defamatory" and/or implies that advertisers "enable" Holocaust denial. The JIDF has ALWAYS put the onus of responsibility on Facebook.