Am I missing something here?
I was catching up on some tweets this morning when I saw this doozy, retweeted by the unimpeachable @NewsTimes:
I’m confused. Is the Connecticut division of Spark Energy trying to guilt people into liking them on Facebook by threatening to withhold donations?
I tried to reread the tweet carefully, piece by piece, and here’s what I got:
- “We’ve donated $5,000 to help people in Japan”: Well, sounds great so far. Who could argue against donating money to help victims of one of the worst earthquakes of the modern era?
- “We want you to like us on Facebook”: Um, well, OK, that’s a bit tacky, but everybody in PR needs to bump up those social media numbers, am I right?
- “We’ll give even more money if you DO like us on Facebook”: Uh, you lost me.
The whole scenario sounded awfully familiar to me: After all, Microsoft’s Bing was publicly chastised by hundreds after it pulled essentially the same stunt, by promising to donate $1 towards relief efforts for every RT they got, up to $100,000. They eventually apologized and donated the full $100,000.
I was sure I was simply mistaken, so I asked their Twitter account to explain. @SparkEnergyCT quickly got back to me:
Yep, that’s exactly what Bing did — just swap ‘likes’ on Facebook for retweets on Twitter. Basically, Spark is saying, “We did something nice and donated $5,000. If you want to see us donate more, opt in to our social media marketing strategy.”
When I asked how they could sleep at night, @SparkEnergyCT replied with this:
Sure enough, their Facebook page is bragging about their potential donations right now:
Hey Spark Energy, since you don’t seem to be getting it, I’ll ask again:
How about you just donate the full $25,000 and stop trying to get some Facebook fans for donating to help victims of a tragedy?
Shouldn’t donating be its own reward? Do you really need to get a few thousand Facebook fans out of the deal, too? People shouldn’t be guilted into liking some energy company on Facebook just because they’re human beings who want to help those in need.
If I’m missing something about the promotion, Spark Energy is free to contact me. My info’s in my About page. I’d be happy to report that this is all one big misunderstanding.
But otherwise: Spark Energy needs to take a lesson from Bing. Apologize, donate the money, and move on.
Hi Keith,
We at Spark Energy apologize for any misunderstanding about our donation to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Our campaign on Facebook and Twitter, now cancelled, was intended to inspire individual giving with corporate support – and to activate our community of like-minded donors. We have a long history of giving back to the community with donations to organizations like the Special Olympics and Salvation Army.
As promised in our press release from March 11, we will make a financial contribution in the amount of $25,000 to those who need it in Japan, through a partnership with the American Red Cross, without any additional social media involvement. In addition, we will increase our donation by $5,000 to a total of $30,000 to cover any likes we may have received on Facebook.
We will also continue to utilize all our social media properties to inspire and support our customers in empowering what matters in their communities.
Sincerely,
Paul Roland
Online Marketing Manager
Comment by Paul Roland — March 16th, 2011 @ 4:22 pm
Kudos to spark for donating has clp donated a penny yet. I am switching to Spark.
Comment by Michael smith — March 16th, 2011 @ 4:34 pm