There has been a lot of talk about embracing the social-networking sites my media marketers. While they've talked about some of the risks in doing it in the past, Disney took a chance with 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,' and had some problems.
"I went to YouTube, and sure enough, snapped a screen shot of the Disney ad. The Leaderboard unit featuring a clock and the dreaded yet lovable Pirate Jack Sparrow, served above a video posted by a user name of "pornograhphyking" (sic). The video depicts a scantily dressed young woman in her undergarments, her legs spread, and her hand motioning to the viewer to join her in bed. Is this the kind of exposure YouTube's director of marketing was referring to when she said the deal was a "milestone"?
"If advertisers choose to use Youtube to extend their brands' reach, well, it is their money to spend. The issue here is not porn or racy content, but rather, the lack of transparency companies like Youtube choose to operate under. Is Disney aware its brand drove through a red-light district?"
This is the underlying weakness, at this time, that has no known solution in the short-term. Disney, who was punished by family focused consumers for entering into less family related fare, has just started to move back in that lucrative demographic again.
Until YouTube, MySpace and others like them develop the system and technology to be able to target their huge audience, they really aren't going to be able to talk their way into the majority of companys' good graces.
When you listen to the executives at the social-networking companies, it's like they're clueless about this. In relationship to copyrighted material they just say their on the honor system: let the viewers report stuff they see that shouldn't be there. The lawsuits are already coming. This is ignorance. It's like there are no adults in the leadership.
There is a huge shakeup going on in the media advertising industry and they're panicking as changes are happening faster than they can get a hold of. Still, to blindly throw out your company's good name, without any checks and balances in place, isn't a way to do good business. A Company like Disney should know better.
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