Damage Control

Even though the weekly public radio program This American Life had to retract its very popular story about Apple’s Foxconn factory, poor working conditions at Foxconn will continue to be an issue the companies have to deal with.

“Our corporate image has been totally ruined,” said Foxconn spokesperson Simon Hsing in a media interview.

According to Reuters, the story forced Apple (and those who love Apple products) to take a closer look at how those products were being made. The fact that many of the things “reported” by Mike Daisey turned out to be untrue only clears the Foxconn name a little bit.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Rush Limbaugh used his radio program today to reiterate his “heartfelt” apology to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law student that he labeled a “prostitute” and a “slut” last week for her vocal support for covering contraception in health care plans.

Today’s show was also an opportunity to address the news that a number of advertisers have decided to pull their dollars from the program (the figure has gone from six to eight). AOL has added itself to this list.

“We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr. Limbaugh’s comments are not in line with our values. As a result we have made the decision to suspend advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Radio show,” said AOL spokesperson Maureen Sullivan.

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Rush Limbaugh has issued a fake apology for the vile statements he made on his radio program Wednesday night. During his show, he called Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke (and, by extension, it would seem, any woman who supports the contraception coverage effort) a “prostitute” and a “slut.” Limbaugh says he “did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke,” that he was trying to be “humorous,” yadda yadda, insincere bunk.

Immediately following his disgusting commentary, Democratic Congress members expressed their outrage, calling for Republican members to denounce the statements. But it looks like the calls from six advertisers to cancel their contracts prompted the contrition.

This morning on Meet the Press, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (VA) tried to tamp down the issue by reminding David Gregory a couple of times that Limbaugh has apologized and, yes, he personally thinks the comments were wrong.

But Limbaugh has opened up a can of worms that he and the GOP may regret for a looong time.

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Adding to the list of Jeremy Lin gaffes is a Boston Ben & Jerry’s shop, which created a special “Taste the Lin-Sanity” flavor that included lychee honey swirls and… wait for it… fortune cookie pieces. Groan.

Note the past tenses in that first sentence. News of this misguided flavor combination came out on Friday (we tweeted about it) and since then, the shop has issued an apology and replaced the offending cookie with waffle cone.

The flavor was introduced after the Asian American Journalists Association very clearly laid out a list of references that are considered unacceptable and offensive. Number four on the list: “FOOD: Is there a compelling reason to draw a connection between Lin and fortune cookies, takeout boxes or similar imagery? In the majority of news coverage, the answer will be no.”

Perhaps the folks at this Ben & Jerry’s shop were high on “Magic Brownies” when they came up with this flavor. Or maybe they thought the rules for journalism didn’t apply to ice cream makers. Alas, they were wrong.

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A couple of weeks ago, Apple was feeling some major heat after a New York Times story revealed poor working conditions at factories making i-products. Things had gone so far as to cause the death of employees. Since then, it looks like Apple is taking steps to boost its rep in this area and squash the outcry.

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While most of the tweets that turned up on our feed last night were about the #Grammys, I remember one in particular from my (imaginary) friend @Oprah that was not: “Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Neilsen box.” Because we’re (imaginary) friends, I took a quick look and remember thinking, “Hey, now, that’s a pretty strange tweet.” Then I quickly returned to the Grammys. Bruno Mars!!

Some fans and the Nielsen company weren’t quite as dismissive as we were. Followers called the tweet “desperate” and “unethical.” After a discussion with Nielsen, Oprah has deleted the message and issued a statement apologizing for any offense caused. Nielsen will make a note of “possible biasing effect” next to the ratings for that episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter.

It’s no secret that OWN has struggled. But everyone, even the mighty Oprah Winfrey, must be careful about how they use promotional muscle to turn things around. These days, particularly with social media, it’s far too easy to overstep.

[image via George Burns, OWN via AP]

Political conservatives who should’ve been paying attention to the game instead of the ads got themselves all fired up over an imagined conspiracy theory about the Chrysler/Clint Eastwood ad that ran during the Super Bowl.

Karl Rove said he was “offended” by the ad, with others on his side of the political spectrum backing up his claims that the clip is an endorsement of President Obama and the auto bailouts.

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McDonald’s launched a Twitter hashtag last week, #McDStories, that was meant to generate heartwarming tales of people enjoying time spent with McNugget value meals and the like. Instead, people tweeted stories about things like chipped teeth and foreign objects in their food. HAHA… ugh.

That hashtag was accompanied by another #MeettheFarmers, which the company’s social media director Rick Wion said in a statement to Business Insider was “successful.” However, “#mcdstories did not go as planned. We quickly pulled #mcdstories and it was promoted for less than two hours,” the statement says.

Wion also says that all social media programs have “contingency plans” in case they don’t go as expected. “The ability to change midstream helped this small blip from becoming something larger,” he writes.

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We wondered how long this would last. Answer: about 24 hours.

That’s how long it took Verizon to back down from its absurd plan to charge wireless customers $2 for each one-time payment made online or over the phone, a.k.a, in Verizon parlance, the “convenience fee.”

The announcement was made in a press release on the Verizon website. According to the statement, they’re dumping the fee following “customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions.” In other words, the company was being skewered on social media and in the press and decided the $2 wasn’t worth the bad buzz and negative business consequences. Sounds very familiar.

According to The Huffington Post, there was online outcry, petitions, and even talk of an FCC investigation. Rather than charging the fee, the company says it will encourage customers to use one of the existing payment options. The fee was meant to go into effect in January.

GoDaddy has been busting the boundaries of good taste with its advertising for years. This year, CEO Bob Parsons went a step further by adding animal cruelty to the list of offenses. But none of that has compared to the backlash against the company over its support for Stop Online Piracy Act.

The two sides of SOPA have been going at it since October, with tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter staunchly against it and entertainment companies among the biggest supporters. CNET has got an FAQ on the issue and we’ve covered the outreach from both sides here.

GoDaddy had been on the list of SOPA supporters before it released this statement saying it changed its mind. GoDaddy supported SOPA? That is something people simply will not allow.

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