This July 28 and 29, Peruvians throughout the national territory celebrate our 198th anniversary and companies are not strangers to this celebration. For this reason, many of them carry out various activities in our country to join the celebration of National Holidays. They do so using various videos, images and others referring to this important and national date.
At this juncture, and hand in hand with new technological tools, two major cinema chains: Cinemark and Cineplanet, sought to join in the euphoria that is unleashed in this celebration; But one of them would not have a "good National Holidays." We will explain later. It is of interest first, that we ask ourselves, is it possible to learn a lesson from what happened? Do we really know the power of social networks? Are we "managing" them properly?
Real dimension of Facebook
According to CoobisNew (sf), although "marketing on Facebook is not a novelty at all" there is a lot of work and planning behind managing the fan pages, as it is essential to take care of the details and, whoever is behind must be willing to take on small and at the same time immense challenges, since he has the success or failure of a brand in his hands.
It is true that digital tools allow us some freedom, but there are borders that one cannot and should not cross, even though we may find what will be released to the public very nice. And, Cinemark did not understand it that way, because it occurred to him that the best way to become "original and funny" was to deform a national symbol, taking advantage of the National Holidays…
What really happened?
Our shield was vilely distorted because the vicuña, representative animal of our fauna; "Rex," the dinosaur from the movie "Toy Story," appeared. The cinchona tree, which represents the flora of our country, was displaced by «Groot» ', a character from «Guardians of the Galaxy»' and, finally, they thought that it was better if the cornucopia that spilled coins was replaced by a bucket with little field. (The Republic, 2019).
As expected, criticism began to flood the networks for this "infamous" impersonation and contempt for our national symbols and, worse still, on such a special date that motivates so much feeling.
"Disrespect". "The national emblem is a national symbol that deserves all our respect." "What they have done is nothing but a mockery for Peruvians." "Isn't that making fun of national symbols?", "They should erase it immediately", "National symbols must be respected", "publication out of focus"… were some of the comments made by critics, whose nationalist sentiment was in full effervescence after the opening of the Pan American Games, which made all Peruvians puff out their chests with pride.
After this avalanche of criticism, the chain of cinemas, through its Facebook account, was forced to apologize "to all Peruvians"; In addition, it indicated that they were going to adopt corrective measures so that a similar event would not be repeated. They eliminated the image and issued this statement: «… Before the publication of a post by National Holidays, where an allusion is made to one of the national symbols, Cinemark sincerely apologizes to all Peruvians. Our respect for the national emblem will always prevail and the aforementioned publication does not reflect the values and principles that govern our company. " It is worth asking now who made the decision.
On the other shore, there was the chain of cinemas, Cineplanet, which appealed to the same strategy; I mean, take something that identifies Peru and modify it; However, he did not find a negative feeling in netizens, since his intention was not to modify the essence of Ayacucho crafts, but only to let himself be enveloped by its magic.
Although comparisons are said to be odious, in this case it is inevitable not to do so, these two examples reflect what can and cannot be done; or perhaps it would be better to say, what can and should never be done. In the first case, the coat of arms has its essence in showing the national wealth through the vicuña (animal kingdom), cinchona tree (plant kingdom) and the cornucopia (mineral kingdom), while the laurel branch and the palm of the nation have an ornamental function; therefore, it is impossible to modify the essence of the shield without generating rejection. This is not the case with the Cineplanet proposal, where "Simba", "Pikachu", "Booz", and even a peculiar "Spider Man" are pleasantly involved in a Peruvian icon: the Ayacucho altarpiece.The designers understood that the essence of the Ayacucho altarpiece does not lie in the characters inside, but in the "box itself". An Ayacucho altarpiece will not cease to be if it is closed because we can easily identify it by its colors, therefore, the magic it is not lost due to the characters inside, since the beauty lies in the color of its exterior, an aspect that Cineplanet preserved. Knowing these simple and perhaps trivial aspects were decisive for the success and failure of each of the proposals.aspect that Cineplanet kept. Knowing these simple and perhaps trivial aspects were decisive for the success and failure of each of the proposals.aspect that Cineplanet kept. Knowing these simple and perhaps trivial aspects were decisive for the success and failure of each of the proposals.
What can we learn?
The great responsibility of community managers lies in knowing how to manage such a powerful tool as Facebook. For CoobisNew (sf), this digital tool has the following main characteristics:
- Massive: it is known to be the social network with the largest number of active users in the world. Instant: in a matter of seconds you can reach thousands or millions of people. Participative: stimulates and demands the participation of users through likes, the possibility of expressing their opinions and the option to share.
Having such a powerful tool forces us to think very well about the concept that we want to convey, what scope it can have, what implications our decision will have. Perhaps, here it could have gained the impetus to be the first to join the wave of national celebration, but this does not prevent us from thinking very well about what is offered, analyzing whether or not the proposal can hurt the susceptibility of users; in addition, foresee all the implications that our decision may have; For example, find out the laws, to avoid legal problems as in this case; as the Public Ministry reported days later that the Cinemark chain had incurred a crime, since article 344 of the Peruvian Penal Code states that: “Anyone who, publicly or by any means of dissemination, offends, outrages, vilifies or belittles,by deed or by verbal expression, the symbols of the Homeland or the memory of the heroes or heroes that our history consecrates, will be punished with a custodial sentence of no more than four years and with sixty to one hundred and eighty days-fine.
For the above, it is necessary that marketers, publicists, community managers and communicators, pay too much attention and care; and above all, respect for what is proposed and published; Otherwise, it can end up exposing the brand to an avalanche of criticism, to a huge reputational crisis that can cost the company dearly; and in this case, for the simple fact of not having had enough wisdom on the part of the "responsible".
REFERENCES
Coobis (sf). 6 Facebook Features Ideal For Marketing. Retrieved from
The Republic (July 28, 2019). Well-known chain of cinemas causes controversy for changing the figures of the national shield of Peru. Retrieved from https://larepublica.pe/tendencia/2019/07/28/facebook-viral-conocida-cadena-de-cines-genera-polemica-por-cambiar-composicion-del-escudo-del-peru-face- fb-peru-cinemark-national-holidays-social-networks-viral-photos /
