by Lilli Haicken
Every time I think I have a handle on what brands can do to get on top of problems out there on the web, another genius comes up with something new. This time its a web extension - [dot]SUCKS - which is supposed to help foster brand criticism. The new extension goes on sale at the end of this month from Vox Populi Registry.
I suspect there will be a run from the brands themselves to buy up the extensions and prevent the kind of criticism the originator of the idea has. Although as Kevin Allen pointed out on his excellent post for PRDaily the other day, we humans have ways of getting around brands having more money than we do. cocacola.suck could become hellocokeyou.suck. Or any other permutation of the name of the brand. Do big name brands have enough money to buy up every permutation of their name? Can they really figure out every permutation?
From the consumer end, I am sure we all out here have criticisms of the brands out there. I know I have many criticisms, and sometimes I even post about them - privately. Usually I just stop using a brand I don't like. Or if I have issues with a brand's ideals, I don't use them. But consumers have latched onto this two-way conversation medium and are trying hard to 'fix' things out there. McDonald's, for instance, has responded to consumers by announcing they will no longer use chickens given certain anti-biotics and have changed their sourcing for this item. A win for consumers? Maybe.
What about celebrity brands? Or politicians? Or countries? Can they all buy up their own [dot]SUCK domains? What legal protections are there for international criticism? Can I, as an American citizen buy up putinyou.suck and create a website that Russians can see? and what's more, use?
Consumer criticism in this day and age is critical for brands to monitor and respond to, and this new domain extension could be a new way to brandjack. Brands have more to fear out there. Nightmares are coming. Brands, beware.
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