Fonterra commits Facebook suicide

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Fonterra commits Facebook suicide

3News NZ

On the Facebook page there have been many comments that urge the dairy producer to stop importing palm kernel

On the Facebook page there have been many comments that urge the dairy producer to stop importing palm kernel

By Samantha Hayes

Greenpeace says Fonterra has committed Facebook suicide because it was unable to answer questions posted on the site about its palm kernel feed.

But Fonterra has countered "they've never had an official Facebook page" and it doesn't know who was running the one that was bombed with questions.

On the Facebook page there have been many comments that urge the dairy producer to stop importing palm kernel.

 “There's been thousands of people sending messages to Fonterra demanding they cease the use of palm kernel and the comments on the Facebook page have been along those lines, people are rightly outraged,” says Greenpeace campaigner Steve Abel.

Greenpeace supporters even posted a video on the page, a spoof of a Fonterra advertisement that links its milk with the death of endangered orangutans in Indonesia.

The videos were quickly removed and Greenpeace says that's proof Fonterra was monitoring the Facebook site.

But the dairy giant denies this and says when it finally notified Facebook, months after the rogue site appeared, the page was shut down. 

Fonterra didn't want to appear for interview, so 3 News asked social media expert Justin Flitter how he thought it should have responded.

“You need to own your brand in the social media space and you need to control that when these sites pop up that aren't you, you need to deal with them pretty quickly,” Mr Flitter says.

However this is not the first time a large corporation has run into social media strife.

Nestle's use of palm oil in it's products people caused people to bombard the Nestle Facebook fan page to express their outrage. A flustered response from Nestle with comments like "it's our page, we set the rules," caused a PR disaster.

Nestle caved, and changed its policies to prevent deforestation which suggests the questioning is far from over for Fonterra.

Palm kernel is not yet certified as sustainable and audits for all its source plantations will be carried out over the next four years.

3 News

 

 

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Comments

3/11/2010 1:39:51 p.m.

loveearth wrote:

Why do people always target those who try and do good and make a difference by picking faults and calling their actions inadequate? The assumption that anyone that cares is a 'thespian from Auckland' shows how very small your world is. I'm not surprised you care little about palm kernel, after all its not our rainforest being destroyed. Shut the curtains and turn on your tv.

2/11/2010 2:47:14 p.m.

rarokid wrote:

in response to Jean Nels comment - are you crazy? Greenpeace is not magical....it is made up of people like you and me, that do a shit load of good, they raise awareness of issues and get the ball rolling as much as they can without breaking any laws. It can't just march into Japan and say, "sorry mate, you gotta stop that" - it's up to people as individuals to act - to sign petitions, to tell companies they won't buy their products unless they stop doing whatever it is that they are doing...it's no use sitting back on your arse and watching the world fall apart around you and blaming it all on Greenpeace. I agree with you that the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, and other countries is sick... but nothing will happen until the people of those countries wake up and turn things around themselves.

1/11/2010 3:09:45 p.m.

Geoff wrote:

Typical Greenpeace, never let the facts get in the way of a good story. As they have been told countless times, Palm kernel is a byproduct. If it doesnt get feed as a stock supplement, it will be left in heaps to Decompose creating megatons of CO2. When will the general public (particularly Auckland thespians) figure out that Greenpeace is more interested in profile and political activism than they are in sustainability and improving the planet.

1/11/2010 10:33:03 a.m.

Jennifer wrote:

I understand there is now a clearly marked 'parady' page launched by Greenpeace. I guess they made the first one, a very under-handed move to make the page then draw attention to it as an offical Fonterra Page.
I don't have any respect for Greenpeace - I was guilted and bullied into donating when I was a uni student, and was then bombarded with mroe paper than i'm sure my measly $10 a month would cover. Agree with Jean, I have no faith in that organisation.

31/10/2010 5:19:12 p.m.

Jean Nel wrote:

The Greenpeace is the biggest bunch of pathetic ........................... (words I cannot say in public). If they care so much about nature ... WHY THE HELL DO THEY NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER ... CRUEL AND BLOODY MURDER OF THOUSANDS OF DOLPHINS IN TAIJI AND THE FAROE ISLANDS ?????? Why the hell are they still nagging about what farmers delivering milk to Fonterra feed their cows. My view .... after my WHOLE family and I stopped ALL financial aid to this stupid and pathetic group (greenpeace)is for them to please get a life.

31/10/2010 7:21:33 a.m.

Lightseed wrote:

the fontera page will no doubt be run by greenpeace

31/10/2010 7:10:18 a.m.

cnn wrote:

This sounds like a 'tree hugger' (Greenpeace) setup to me.

30/10/2010 11:36:39 p.m.

V wrote:

1010.org if you want to see how the greens want execute non-believers in AGW, talk about calling the kettle black.

30/10/2010 9:09:22 p.m.

Rimu wrote:

The milk ad then don't want you to see is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvvLsAMsOJM

30/10/2010 8:15:35 p.m.

AaronC wrote:

This is a little misleading because the page was made by Fonterra staff- its another lie on their part. The page was an official one- Greenpeace are on the money here.