When cyber space knocks at the door – brands caught up in News of the World phone hacking

Well, once again it’s been quite a day in the world of journalism and social media. Following on from the super-injunctions debacle, we are now witnessing a collective coming together on social media to pressure companies to stop advertising in the News of the World. This follows claims it hacked the voicemails of Milly Dowler and the relatives of 7/7 victims, among others. The website ‘Follow the Money’, is leading the way by acting as a launch pad for users to send pre-scripted tweets to the papers’ major advertisers – all urging them to pull their ads.

As we have witnessed over recent months, social networking cannot be ignored and neither can the influence that consumers have. For two days furious consumers have been bombarding companies – from supermarkets and car makers to telecoms providers and banks – with calls to withdraw advertising spend. Last night some of the biggest companies in the country began to respond, desperate to protect their images, as users of sites such as Mumsnet condemned the tabloid.

The US car giant Ford was the first to reveal it had pulled all advertising at the paper, and others admitted they were urgently reviewing whether to follow. A Ford spokesman said last night that the company “cares about the standards of behaviour of its own people and those it deals with externally”. This is a good and decisive move which is obviously underpinned by a thorough crisis communications plan.

Major brands and retailers have followed suit including Virgin, Coca-Cola and Cadbury’s who announced they are pulling sponsorship from this week’s paper.

The key with social media is not to ignore it; companies must be seen to be responding to an issue like this and taking it seriously. Companies may not wish to meet the demands being made of them, but they must at least communicate their reasons why.

It is fair to say that on the internet ‘no comment’ simply will not cut it.