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Facebook has proved to be a very important tool for the 1.5 million local businesses that are on it but what happens if it turns against you? Last week, Nestle got into a sticky situation on their Facebook page.

The situation began when environmental protection group Greenpeace, who are known for their unorthodox methods of gaining attention, created a video parody on YouTube of Nestle’s KitKat candy bar product. The video parody suggests that the production of a key ingredient in the product, palm oil, leads to the destruction of the rainforests, which in turn threatens the endangered species living in it such as the Orangutan. Here’s the video for future references:

Instead of dealing it in a more professional way, they demanded YouTube that video is to be taken down. Instead of complying, copies of the videos reappeared on multiple video sharing websites, causing it to be viral.

Their Facebook’s page too was overwhelmed with unhappy campaigners urging a boycott of their products, forcing the company to churn a statement on its corporate Website. The number of fans on their page increased tremendously but I believe those who just joined are only there to voice their opinions. Worst is, some of them are reminding others of Nestle’s past controversies like their breast milk substitutes.

The comments on the page ranged from “Hey PR moron. Thanks you are doing a far better job than we could ever achieve in destroying your brand,” to “It’s not OK for people to use altered versions of your logos, but it’s OK for you to alter the face of Indonesian rainforests? Wow!” to a gentler “I like some Nestle products so I qualify as a ‘fan.’ I would like Nestle to make them even better by removing palm oil. I would like to enjoy my Kit-Kats without feeling responsible for rainforest destruction and Orangutan deaths.”

Finally, under fire, the Nestle rep apologized for snapping back at fans. “This (deleting logos) was one in a series of mistakes for which I would like to apologize. And for being rude. We’ve stopped deleting posts, and I have stopped being rude.”

Personally, I feel that there is no point in deleting every negative comment received on your social media pages because in the end, your brand will end up looking like you’ve handed over the management to someone with an authoritarian personality. We need to always remember that control and management are two very different things.

This is by far the worst blow-up in the comments of a Facebook page for businesses. Given the 400 million membership Facebook has, the Facebook fan page is one of the more popular tools out there for businesses but after the Nestle debacle, they now realize the biggest downside in operating such a public forum for users to comment on.

The Nestle Facebook mess will be remembered by businesses, at least to me, in times to come as a badly mismanaged user backlash on Facebook which would prove useful for other brands to learn from it.

Screenshot via CNET

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