DailyDirt: Be Careful What You Ask For

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The internet can be a rather dangerous place to ask people for suggestions. This is especially true for big brands and pop singers (eg. Taylor Swift's promotional contest that voted for her to play at the Horace Mann school for the deaf) who have a significant number of haters just waiting for an opportunity to troll. Marketing folks have been trying out some experiments in gathering "user generated content" from the internet, and here are a few of cases that didn't go quite as well as planned.

• Coca Cola has apologized for its "Share A Coke" website in South Africa that apparently didn't limit user input to people's names. Filtering user input is a lesson that seems to be re-taught again and again. [url]
• McDonald's asked people to share stories of their favorite memories of the burger chain giant, but not everyone had cheerful, glowing things to say. The #McDStories hashtag was pulled from promotion after just a couple hours. "#McDStories: McDialysis? I'm loving it!" [url]
• Back in 2009, Skittles turned over their main website to anyone on Twitter who simply mentioned "skittles" in their tweets. Was that campaign a success or a failure? Tell us in the comments below.... [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: advertising, brands, campaigns, coke, crowdsourcing, marketing, share a coke, skittles, ugc, user generated content
Companies: coca cola, mcdonald's, twitter

DailyDirt: Keeping Your Food Safe And Sound

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Nature has devised some convenient ways to protect foods until we're ready to eat them -- bananas have nice yellow peels, grapes come in handy bunches, etc. People have also devised a few interesting packages for food (not just Pringles cans), but there's always some room for improvement. Here are just a few examples of some ways to store food/drinks in interesting ways.

• Almost everyone can recognize an egg carton -- a container design that's well over 50 years old. However, the humble egg carton might still evolve if an "eggbox" design (that can fold flat) gets commercial interest. [url]
• Coca Cola is experimenting with a Coke bottle made of ice, but it's only being sold in Colombia. Looks like a cool idea to have the bottle melt away, but the refrigeration necessary to store the bottles isn't too environmentally friendly. (Also, you have to drink it all in one sitting?) [url]
• You can get a 12-course meal to fit into a can -- and you don't even need a can opener to eat it. The pop-top can contains 12 layers of deliciously compacted food, but you have to be a bit careful about getting everything out so you don't mix up the appetizer with the dessert. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: bottle, coke, container, eggs, food, ice, meal in a can, packaging
Companies: coca cola

DailyDirt: I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The Cola Wars have been over for a long time. As usual in war, there are no real winners -- just a lot of wasted spending. Now that we're giving peace a chance, here are just a few lingering concerns over these dark-colored soft drinks.

• Coca-Cola and Pepsi are going to modify their recipes a little bit to reduce the amount of caramel coloring and 4-methylimidazole in their colas. Otherwise, a California law would require a cancer warning label since the 4-methylimidazole in the coloring is a known carcinogen. [url]
• There was a fairly complex conspiracy theory behind the introduction of New Coke which suggested that Coca-Cola knew how badly the new formulation would taste to consumers, but that the company made it in order to replace sugar with HFCS. Bonus points for definitively debunking this conspiracy theory... [url]
• If you've ever seen a demonstration of a can of cola dissolving teeth, you might be a bit freaked out by the phosphoric acid listed in the ingredients of many sodas. But the dose makes the poison, and the concentration of phosphoric acid in soft drinks shouldn't worry anyone. [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: cancer, caramel, coke, cola wars, formulation, phosphoric acid, poison, soda, teeth
Companies: coca-cola, pepsi