Frog legs: an appetite for destruction?

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UPDATE: (4/5/10 7:05 a.m.): Uncle Julio's has changed its Facebook settings so no fan posts are visible and continues to delete posts from people opposed to its choice to serve frog legs. Save the Frogs is mounting protests at all Uncle Julio's locations on April 30 Save the Frogs day. By the way, Save the Frogs has more Facebook fans than Uncle Julio's.

UPDATE (4/4/10 3:55 p.m.): The original blog post below was from 1 p.m. on Sunday. By 3:50 p.m. the Uncle Julio's Facebook admin had simply 'deleted' all of the posts.

ORIGINAL POST (4/4/10 1:00 p.m.): Uncle Julio's restaurant, with 14 locations in five states, has a Facebook page for fans of its border-style Mexican food. But there's an item on its menu that has Save the Frogs fans on Facebook hopping mad.

These frog fans have hopped on over to Uncle Julio's fan page this Easter weekend, while Uncle Julio's staff are off celebrating the holiday, to leave the restaurant chain a message about frog legs.

So far 20+ messages speaking out against frog legs and speaking up for frogs and their protection have been posted: http://www.facebook.com/unclejulios#!/unclejulios?v=wall

Amphibians are currently undergoing what scientists have identified as the earth's sixth mass extinction event in its history. In addition to other environmental causes, a pathogenic fungus is spreading across global frog populations and wiping them out. Frogs raised in India and China for the global frog leg trade are loosely regulated and at risk of spreading this highly virulent fungus.

Now a global environmental crisis is becoming a local PR crisis for this business.

And it's facilitated by the company's own Facebook fan page. Last month, the Nestle company fan page was the target of a Greenpeace-stoked campaign, but Uncle Julio's vs Save the Frogs this Easter weekend shows that you don't have to be a multi-national corporation to be on the receiving end of a very public outcry.

It's what you do with the criticisms that count. Uncle Julio's needs to understand that a large group of people are trying to start a conversation with their chain.

If the restaurant's management listens to these voices, it has an excellent opportunity before it.

It can join this conversation, keep it civil and respectful, and extend the conversation to its loyal patrons who will most likely follow its example of civility and respect.

It can let people know that it has recently been made aware of amphibian extinction rates across the globe. It can share some of the statistics it has learned with its customers. If it can show that its frogs clearly do not contribute to the degradation of other frog habitats or spread disease, it can communicate this to customers. Although, no restaurants serving this product have much of a leg to stand on.

Scientific evidence shows that the trade in frog legs may contribute to the spread of diseases that are a major cause of this mass extinction event. When you consider the risks against the benefits, serving frog legs just doesn't make sense. They're a delicacy and not a staple, are imported from long distances, and don't support a local industry that creates employment.

If Uncle Julio's were (W)right On's client, we'd have them primed to answer tough questions about their choice to serve this product and ready with a plan to announce a change.

Assuming Uncle Julio's took our counsel, we would make this announcement before Save the Frogs Day on April 30; educate loyal patrons about the change through point of sale materials in the restaurant, talking points for servers and online communications via its website and Facebook page; engage directly with those who criticized the practice to build new relationships; and develop a program and promotion to raise funds for amphibian protection and engage patrons in making the world a better place for frogs to strengthen their relationship with the Uncle Julio's brand.

What at first appears to be a crisis can often become an opportunity, but with social media giving a platform for these kinds of communications, a company has to be ready to engage.

Hitting Pause in a Fast-Forward World

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As communicators -- PR people, marketers, media, bloggers -- we're inundated with incoming and outgoing messages. Keeping pace is hard enough, but it's also not enough. We must stay ahead of the curve.

In this day and age, that's what our clients, readers, and viewers expect of us. We live in a hyper-connected world and are navigating it at hyperspeed.

Is it any wonder that from time to time, a communication goes awry or a message astray? In this communications environment, the unglamorous 'check and balance' has been run roughshod by the fast and the furious.

It reminds me of the character Toby, in my favorite TV show, The Office (yes, I'm finally making the connection to the photo above!). He's always trying to put the brakes on his boss Michael's ill-conceived ideas. But the office group-think and Michael's impatience always trump Toby's protestations, and Toby is the office buzzkill. It's good comedy, but it's a reminder that what's popular or fun is not always right or appropriate.

But, back to the real world and what happens when the checks and balances aren't adhered to: The New York Times had to post a retraction yesterday for running a letter to the editor that was supposedly from the mayor of Paris. It was critical of Caroline Kennedy and her senate seat run. New York Times letters are supposed to be verified with the author before being published. This one was edited and emailed back to its sender; however, it was published eventhough the sender -- who, of course, was not the mayor of Paris -- never responded to the Times.

This reminds me also of the French-Canadian DJs posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy who got past the checks and balances that should have been protecting U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin from such embarassment.

And, I'm wondering, to borrow a phrase from the French, if "c'est la vie?" I hope not. And as communicators, I think it's imperative that we keep one finger on the pause button, ready to push. Communication is often defined by what you don't say, and keeping quiet can often be the best course (see our blog post from yesterday for more on that topic.)

This season, The Office brought Toby back from Costa Rica. I'll take this as a sign that we're ready to slow the pace down, increase our control over communications, heed and head off problems before they get bail-out big, and live with making unpopular decisions rather than living with disastrous consequences.