The manufacturer McVities classed its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991 this was challenged by UK Customs and Excise because “cakes” were exempt from the UK 20% VAT rate that came into force on 4th January 2011. McVities argued that Jaffa Cakes were miniature cakes showing that biscuits would normally be expected to go soft when stale, whereas cakes would be expected to go hard, something than an out of date Jaffa is inclined to do. The court ruled that the Jaffa Cake is a cake and therefore VAT free.
Due to social media this story attracted a lot of attention which led to groups called “The biscuit, sorry cake” being made on facebook and number of people tweeting about Jaffa Cakes.
Any sort of attention can be publicity and increase the sales of the product and it was the same in this case. McVities did increase the number of The PR industry knows how to make the most of a news story and “spin” it so the manufacturer does not looks negative however in this instance the use of social media was not considered.
McVities could have published details of their 1991 legal arguments onto facebook, engaged in debates using Twitter and simply issued a press release onto their website.
This shows that being active on social networking sites can be beneficial for the manufacturer, company or organisation. Using Facebook or Twitter can help you interact with your customers and explain the situation clearly and also gain there feedback which will be positive in the long run.
1 comment:
Hi Sukhi,
This article reminds of the NSPCC Facebook campaign asking people to change their profile picture to a cartoon character to show their support to stop cruelty towards children.
Lots of people joined in on the campaign and changed their facebook status to cartoons but the NSPCC posted a statement on their website saying that they did not start the campaign but welcomed the free publicity.
I agree that any attention for a company good or bad allows people to become aware of them and increase the awareness of what they do like the Jaffa Cakes.
And I truly believe that the power of social media will continue to grow.
Since the campaign to bring back 'Wispa' and the organisation of protests in Egypt through social media networks the importance to acknowledge these outputs will continue to grow.
The direct communication enabled on Twitter and Facebook to contact help lines and people associated with that company will become a new arena in which relationships between consumers/ customers and companies can become stronger.
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