They did a great job of getting out there and gaining traffic but they stepped on their peepee in closing the deal. What Murphy Goode didn’t get was that if you harness social media for “good”, you better not be an asshat. It ends up being like throwing a tennis ball against the wall and having it come back at you with 10x the velocity, and in the form of a clump of poo.

I’m not saying they should have hired Marty (I wish I could afford him!) and I can see how a popular web dude could dominate the votes and have that not be the right person. But if you’re gonna ask the social universe to jump in you better at least give their opinion a tiny bit of weight; Their wrath would leave you wishing you had only left a thousand women scorned instead. Their wrath is what Murphy Goode is dealing with now.

Murphy Goode probably saw a spike in sales just with the introduction of their “contest”. My guess is, they’re gonna see those sales dropping off rapidly. It’s much more expensive to lose a customer than it is to gain one. For example, if I had never bought from them before and found them with the initial stunt, I might buy 10 bottles per year. But had I been buying from them and I heard about their shitty behavior I’d never buy from them again. That’s a pretty big penalty and one that is not immediately recognized.

Personally, I love the leveling effect of social media. Sure, sometimes it goes way overboard but I think it mostly helps keep companies and individuals more honest. Because if you break from social media etiquette you may as well jump into a tank of gasoline while holding a lit torch and save yourself the hassle.

Sent in a check today to pay it off and will cancel once that check is processed. What about others who have always paid on time who don’t have the means to simply pay off their card in one shot?

I’m not in favor of regulating this behavior necessarily but I do think some of these card companies are doing permanent harm to their reputations with this recent type of behavior. Oh, and did I mention that I also have a bank account with Citi? Yes, that’ll be closed too. Howz that feel Shitty-Bank?