Diving Beneath the Crust of the Issue
It’s amazing how many ways there are to talk about something which is really so very minor. I’m talking about yesterday’s endless discussion about a tweet by Australian pizza chain, Crust Pizza.
Oh and for the record, I’m eating Crust Pizza while I type this and this is not going to be a blog post about how to run a social campaign, the perils of social media or political correctness: no, this post is about how generally incompetent the Australian digital media landscape is with discussing this.
I’m not going to rehash, blow by blow, what happened – for a run down and some screen shots check out @Beaney’s early write up over at the Amnesia Razorfish blog – but essentially Crust pizza linked to a video entitled Female Drivers on YouTube with the post “Need a laugh? Hilarious compilation of female driver madness” and some people didn’t like that.
Crust has been tweeting for some time under the eye of Keep Left PR, who along with their general engagement strategies also spearheaded the popular and highly successful #CrustFreePizzaFriday campaign. Proving that, like a victim waiting to be skinned in Silence of the Lambs, I keep my old journalistic integrity in a deep dark hole to toy with when it amuses me, I contacted Keep Left for a comment and their Director, Caroline Siler, offered this:
Crust’s intention with social media has always been to deliver a great experience for its community with interesting, entertaining and valuable content. We’ve noticed over the last few weeks that Crust’s community particularly enjoys funny videos, but recognise we missed the mark today, and for that we apologise.
We took down the tweet because Crust’s customers asked us to. Crust listens to its customers at all times, whether they have praise or criticism. We’ve learned a big lesson today and will do better in the future.
The speed with which Keep Left responded mean that I, and I think others, will be willing to consign this to a one off error of judgment. Crust also apologised further on the Twitter account and on its blog.
Keep Left made a mistake but unless the post was pushed or reviewed by Crust, I don’t think it reflects too badly on them, and I like their pizza which is why I chose it for my dinner. If you want to discuss how this reflects on having a social media presence, hire my new team with Daemon Digital or buy me a drink because I’m ready to move on from this aspect to what actually is bothering me
Soon after the incident had become a talking point on Twitter, two pieces caught my eye. One was a blog post by Joel Pearson, the other an article on Mumbrella dedicated to the tweet. Together they sum up two leading sentiments:
- This is all a beat up by social media experts trying to sound knowledgeable and generally blowing things out of proportion and
- What’s the problem anyway? It was funny! This is political correctness gone made etc.
I’ll address these in order. Were many of the people talking about the tweet and its implications those who work in digital and social media? Shockingly yes. In the same way I’ll care less about a sports scandal than those connected to the game; it was something that was always going to be of more interest to those involved in the space. What comments like Joel’s post fail to acknowledge, and I understood this took more time to actually look at those responding to Crust rather than just seeing social media douchebags being vocal in your Twitter stream, was that this reached far wider than the usual claims of ‘echo chamber’ really reflect.
I was busy and in meetings with work and side projects most of the day so I haven’t finished my full analysis but a cursory glance shows that there were many instant reactions to the tweet, primarily and not surprisingly from women that were clearly outraged by the comment. Dismissing something, or conversely beating something up, like this based on your personal connection with the industry is not only naïve and adds nothing but it also dramatically cheapens anyone who may have been offended, which I’ll come back to in a minute.
The second point is the one that the vast majority of advertising and PR media commentators on Mumbrella’s comment thread spouted: that there was nothing wrong with the video. After all, we do see that (most of) the drivers in the video were women! And the terrible driving and accidents were actually rather amusing! What’s the problem?
The problem comes from framing. It has nothing to do with the fact that yes the drivers depicted were terrible but rather with the way the video is labeled, and was subsequently described in the tweet, emphasising the connection between this behaviour and not having a penis. It is the casual, ‘acceptable’ discrimination that happens constantly in society, but that doesn’t however make it acceptable. Reflecting back on the company, it’s made worse I think when you consider Crust have a large young, female workforce and that young people are vulnerable to being discriminated and mistreated based on their inexperience in the workforce*. I suspect if the video had been titled Asian Drivers then a lot more people would be able to see how stupid this is, but as it is think it’s just light hearted poking fun. However, you know what? That kind of crap is the kind of thing that constantly happens in Australia so I’m not that surprised.
What I am surprised about is that the commentators on one of Australia’s top media and marketing sites (by definition the people whose careers are based on their understanding and handling of other people and company’s image) response is that the issue lies with those taking offence not with the poor judgment employed in the first place. Even if you think the video was hilarious in its presented context you would have to be supremely (no pizza pun intended) ignorant to not realise that a large proportion of Crust’s market actually would be.
The ridiculous thing is that with the speed of response from Keep Left and Crust I decided this wouldn’t be worth writing about – but it was the sheer inanity of comments from so many people who are meant to be the leaders in media and branding that meant I had to say something because if so many of you can miss the ballpark for not only who was offended by this but also why it matters then that really bothers me.
It’s not about being militant feminists, it’s not about endless discussion of best practice in social, it’s about a few simple facts:
- Like it or not for your personal taste, the framing of the content is sexist
- Regular people were offended by this
- Crust and Keep Left could have achieved the same positives by linking to a similar video with none of the negative connotations
- Completely missing the point about any of the above and still representing brands in the current age means you need to have a good long hard think about what you’re doing
Discourses like this are what lead to ingrained habits of discrimination and I’m sorry but communications from a company, no matter how casual, are not the same as ‘harmless’ inappropriate jokes with friends.
I don’t think Crust need to be punished any more for this – they’ve been brave and highly engaged with social and this should be taken a momentary lapse and moved on from – but that doesn’t change how disappointed I am in how many people seem unable to see the context in actions and words simply because it’s not targeting them.
As always, feel free to sound off in the comments and tell me if you think I’m wrong.
I clicked on the search link. I went back 10 pages and every tweet in response either supported them or said it was a social media fail. The uproar is focusing on the marketing side of things and how others in the space would deal with it. If genuine customers and the target market are over it, why are we still going on about it?
Also, wasn’t offended. If I followed them I wouldn’t have even had second thoughts about the tweet. Women are bad drivers. Guys are crap at Valentine’s Day. Blondes do dumb things. These stereotypes are fun and not harmful. They didn’t say all females should be treated like 2nd class citizens, they said hey here’s a compilation that plays up a stereotype that doesn’t deny anyone their rights. I would have liked to have seen an apology saying “Oops, sorry, blonde moment, here’s a list of our favourite blonde jokes”.
P.S. Hope all of those offended didn’t tweet about our ranga PM
Agree with Mandi, I wasn’t offended by this….the blonde jokes maybe (just kidding for the record!). I think it’s a shame that the social media world pick and choose when they have a sense of humour about stereotypes (Julia Gillard/ranga jokes seemed perfectly acceptable a few weeks ago). I think Crust made an error here but only in the sense that their tweet lacked creativity and forethought. I don’t think it deserved this backlash! Maybe get @oldspice to eat their pizza!?
Hi Mandi,
As I mentioned I decided I wouldn’t write about it based on the incident itself early on - in the long run it’s only relevant as an interesting note when discussing a successful social strategy because Crust and Keep Left responded as quickly as they did.
I think the reasoning for why I think this is more than just a joke is that saying men are crap on Valentine’s Day, for example, is making a social comment on common stereotypes for how the different genders relate to romance, nor does it preclude some men being the complete opposite. The assertion that women are bad drivers implies that women are actually physically incapable of doing something most consider a basic life skill.
Like I said, if some people aren’t offended by it and don’t see the harm in that discourse, that’s fine, but I find it surprising people don’t understand why it would have been offensive to others but instead seem to be taking the point that not that it’s a small mistake but that there was no mistake in the first place.
[...] Warlach’s World » Diving Beneath the Crust of the Issue warlach.com/2010/07/14/diving-beneath-the-crust-of-the-issue/ – view page – cached It’s amazing how many way there are to talk about something which is really so very minor. I’m talking about yesterday’s endless discussion about a tweet by Australian pizza chain, Crust Pizza. Tweets about this link [...]
I tweeted about it fairly early on, just noting: “Sexism FAIL. Badly done, Crust.” I stand by that. No, I wasn’t offended. I’m not crying over it or anything. It’s the CONTEXT. I expect blonde jokes and bad women driver jokes in emails I get from my Grandpa. I also expect that type of thing on South Park. It doesn’t make me angry; it doesn’t get me worked up. I probably wouldn’t even have batted an eye if a brand like Dominos had sent the tweet out. But Crust’s brand, to me, doesn’t say larrikin. Their well-designed website; their social media presence; the weekly contest; their fancy pizzas… that’s all stuff that I associate with being at the higher-end of the market, with appealing to a female audience. (Every Friday, I’d estimate that 75% of the tweets I see entering their contest are from women.) So yeah, to me it struck a really wrong note and I couldn’t believe they’d made such a misstep.
That said, I’m totally happy with their response and the apology. That was well done. I just resent being lumped in as some sort of panties-in-a-wad “social media expert” (newsflash: I’m not) hyperventilating over political correctness… when in reality I was just a consumer going, “Huh, maybe this brand doesn’t mean what I thought it meant.”
It’s possible that all the women who were offended by it are, in fact, poor drivers - and therefore took it personally.
^ That was a deliberate, stereotypical inflammatory comment, in case you missed the inflection.
I’m now going to sell all of my possessions and live in a blank, white room for fear of offending anyone else.
Oh crap, should it be white? Maybe it should be black?
Wait, grey = neutral.
For the record - I agree that the context SHOULD have been gender neutral.
But I am dismayed by the number of people that associate stereotypes with the whole - as opposed to what it really represents; the stand-out feature or characteristic of a race, breed or gender. Essentially - an emphasised caricature. And then use that as ammunition to say that ALL females are depicted that way.
Maybe I’m delving too deep here.
Stereotypes and discrimination have existed for as long as time itself - I don’t see it changing any time soon (either perpetuated or campaigned against by the social hive) without significant, worldwide attention. The fallout from a pizza tweet just isn’t going to cut it - though I admire your dissection of these events.
The response from those in the industry is only symptomatic of the fact that stereotyping is the new ‘acceptable’ form of discrimination. Now that outright racism and sexism is out of vogue, little jibes serve to reinforce old value systems.
Katy, I don’t think the Gillard/ranga jokes were ever acceptable. The sheer volume of them only serves to give the impression that tripe like that is acceptable. These things may be funny, only because they play to cultural/social misconceptions and historical prejudices. Outside these contexts they are devoid of humour and are simply false. It is simply the perpetuation of a lie.
The atheist in me says why the hell would I do that for religion, let alone some stupid stereotyping for a laugh!
Our complicity is why these prejudices endure.
I follow Crust and admire the way they handle their twitter account in general.
They tried something new and it didn’t work, which I’m pretty sure we’ve all done from time to time.
Yes, I commented on the tweet as I was unsure to why they posted that there in the first place. I also followed that up with the lesson I learned- if its not relevant don’t post it.
Follow that with their swift reaction, apology and deletion of the tweet and it further highlighted that this was a lesson learned, not damage done.
Working in this space for a brand, I found it more of an interesting debate/case study rather than a negative example of the brand using social media.
Yes I’m female, I follow them, enter their competitions and eat their pizza. This isn’t going to change because of one misjudged tweet, nor should it for anyone else.
I couldn’t disagree with this post more, Lachlan. You’ve needlessly over-dramatised the impact of the issue and assigned a personal opinion the role of explicit messaging.
To say take such moral high-ground I assuming that you have never in your life done any of the following:
- Looked at an attractive female
- Watched TV
- Visited an internet forum willingly
- Laughed at an offensive joke
- Made a joke that is based on any kind of physical feature, personality trait, race, sex or political issue
because all of the above will be considered offensive by someone.
Also, just cause I like you, I’ll share a little truth with you. There is not statistically significant data available to state that a “large proportion of Crust’s market” were offended.
Tweeting a Publicly available video requires a 2000 word treatise?
Seriously?
The issue isn’t with Crust’s conduct as we can all agree they’ve done a good job of mitigating and apologising. The issue is it’s seemingly ok because everyone does it and has a laugh.
Joel you make a good point but once again what’s accepted common behaviour and what’s actually right are not the same thing.
I agree with Kris - I have always really respected Crust for their Brand image. T quote Kris, “I associate with being at the higher-end of the market…Crust’s brand, to me, doesn’t say larrikin” - which is why their tweet seemed off-brand to me.
I think Zoe made a great point - “They tried something new and it didn’t work, which I’m pretty sure we’ve all done from time to time.” Yep, we all make mistakes.
But as for whether the Tweet is sexist or not, I think Dave hit it on the head:
“The response from those in the industry is only symptomatic of the fact that stereotyping is the new ‘acceptable’ form of discrimination. Now that outright racism and sexism is out of vogue, little jibes serve to reinforce old value systems.”
However, like Kris, I think Crust gave a great apology, and that has redeemed them in my eyes.
-Rach.
Once you start arguing whether it’s sexist, you’ve already lost. It’s a compilation of bad women drivers, it going to be perceived as sexist.
Apart from that though, it’s off brand. It’s entirely unrelated to what they do, and for a company that’s allegedly doing new media well, why are they forwarding decades old video compilations? Makes no sense.
Crust are positioned as high end pizza for inner city types, very progressive market. Bogan humor and laughing at women doesn’t work for that target.
How they handled it, I think is quite good. But I do question companies that try to overly personalize the corporate account. It’s easy to mess up.
Mandi: the ranga commentary is unrelated. Gillard is a redhead, and she mentioned this fact numerous times in the media. There’s a world of difference between engaging with a narrative that Gillard welcomed and benefited from, and what’s happened here.
Lachlan, thanks to both you and Beaney for writing sensibly about this. Yes - it’s brand-endorsed casual sexism. Yes they’ve apologised and everyone’s moving on. They’ve learned from their mistakes. Long term damage to brand reputation? To be decided. It’s left some women with a bad taste (of sexist pizza) in their mouths. Its taken a lot of time & effort to get Crust as top of mind in social - what a shame to have it unravel with such a cheap piece of social content. PR agency fail.
So Bogan’s are OK to marginalize?
The self righteousness displayed by some, reeks of hypocrict-ondria. It’s a lot of ego inflating and “look at me I’m PC (but in private i’m not)”.
Crust made a bad tweet, we all have, they didn’t deserve this hyped up Helen Lovejoy run backlash. Sure, from a Brand it was a bad move, but we learn from our mistakes and move on, as should we all.
It’s also worth noting that anyone arguing that their personal morals are right and that the brand should be obey them online therefor must support the mandatory internet filter, otherwise the argument is rife with hypocrisy.
@Joel *raises eyebrows*
Who’s arguing personal morals Joel? It’s either sexist, discriminatory, racist, or it isn’t. You don’t see the KKK saying they’re not bigots. Their morals are different, and they’re also bigots and racists.
Your own line of argument is not dissimilar to Conroy’s catch-cry.
If you believe in A then you must support B.
If you believe in personal morals then you support the filter.
If you believe in a free internet then you support child porn.
So my points are:
The argument was never about personal morals, the isms are not exclusive to morality, and the argument doesn’t follow.
I don’t see where my right to choose whether I buy pizza from someone who makes sexist remarks means I support Conroy’s filter. Total strawman there.
Dave, I believe that’s called a deductive fallacy
Further information for those in need.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_fallacy
Joel’s use of the Conroy filter was to show how inane the uproar/implied controversy is over this whole thing.
Come back down to earth people, I’m worried you may fall from your pedestals whilst sitting on your ever so high horses.
Thank you Jahn.
I’m glad someone uses common sense.
I also enjoy the fact that marginalising others by placing them in a position of ridicule via the term ‘high horse’ makes you guilty of the same thing.
How’s it feel being above the rabble?
@dave It’s Wonderful! I can understand why you hang up here. Looking down my nose at everyone is so cool. I feel so important. Hear me! Fear me! Want me!
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply bogans are legitimate targets. Simply that using that sensibility and sense of humour in a brand that isn’t oriented to that market is a poor decision.
I’m also not saying you can’t make sexist jokes. There’s a lot of advertising that does, and sometimes it works. Nandos is an example that springs to mind - but they’re known for slightly edgy advertising. It worked in context, this one didn’t.
And as for policing what people say - I’m not suggesting that people shouldn’t make sexist jokes. Simply that in a market economy, people make purchasing decisions that reflect how they feel about a brand. As people who work in advertising and media, we know this. If we produced an advertising campaign that alienated a section of the existing market, produced a bucket of bad press and upset existing fans, and wiped out a lot of carefully cultivated good will, would we respond by telling the client to get over it, and get off your high horse? Or would we try to figure out why it backfired?
Anyway, storm, teacup, etc.
Jahn, I think the people who know me would say that I’m fairly modest. I certainly make a point to not place myself above everyone as a matter of principle. My personal stance on discrimination and marginalisation is evidenced in this discussion. It would be hypocritical of me to be anything else.
Your accusation doesn’t fly far, and your sarcasm and deprecation doesn’t address my point.
What I, and others have said of the Crust tweet is that their conduct was commendable. The issue at hand is what were the implications of the reactions amongst those in PR and advertising whose job it is to avoid making light of social justice issues such as sexism to sell their products.
Furthermore, if articulating this point and addressing the social implications of sexism in media is indeed ‘high-horsing’ then I’d rather be labelled that than insult others solely to make a poorly grounded point.
The image in this post has made me hungry