As is your tradition, this post is on the mark. I was at a PR Newswire breakfast in Minneapolis about social media this week and the questions asked were mostly so basic that it just makes me understand just how much work we need to do within our own profession.

I would love to know the true timeline of how this unfolded within Target, what was the thought process.

Until I know I can only guess and remain befuddled. Nonetheless, it’s a learning moment for us all so I posted 5 lessons learned from Target missing the PR mark
http://tinyurl.com/2qh8l9

Nice post Todd and have a great 3 day weekend.

The blogosphere has been quite taken with the separate social media gaffes from Target and Ford this week. Hear what Shel Holtz and Joe Jaffe had to say about the situation. Also: Edelman’s white paper and measuring online influence.

This isn’t the first time Cafepress has been at the center of a large brand and a trademark dispute with a passionate fan-base. As part of a marketing campaign by Universal Studios to promote the movie “Serenity” – the movie spin-off from the well written, yet prematurely canceled Fox show Firefly – they enlisted the well organized ‘Browncoats’ – zealot fans of original show.

Universal encouraged fans of the tv-show to help promote the Serenity movie through a viral marketing campaign. However, after being encouraged to host parties, develop bumper stickers and t-shirts – spreading the word throughout the verse, the studio started legal action against the very fans they turned to – demanding ~$9,000 in licensing fees against Cafepress as one example and issuing a number of other cease and desist orders against numerous other fans.

The backlash of large brands trying to maintain draconian control over the how their own customer base use their products and services is only going to increase.

Change – she is a coming and Companies can either help usher in a more open, transparent and supportive culture to the market – further establishing and extending and their brand or suffer a closed circuit blackout.

In Universal Studios case – this is how the Firefly fans that they once courted responded – A retroactive invoice from them for their services in promoting the movie.

If you want control – you’ll have to pay – one way or another…..

Here’s the quote, from an ABC News story: “We are reviewing a number of options with the parties involved and hope to find an amicable solution. If we cannot come to one quickly, we will be forced to close down the site and its associated distribution points.”

As I pointed in a post on my blog, the law leaves the lawyers little option but to establish a record of action, but that doesn’t mean they’re not interested in talking.