Target tells bloggers (i.e., you) to drop dead

I love when big companies don't get "it." So comfortable are they in their size and superiority that they miss the changes that are obvious to people like you and I.

Over ten years ago when the Internet was young, I operated a Web site and moderated a BBS dedicated to Disney news. Everything I posted was seen by thousands of rabid Disney fans across the globe. So, I reached out to Disney's various PR departments and requested to be added to their distribution lists. Some of their PR departments did so without question, while others told me they only dealt with "real journalists."

At the time, few people had any idea what bulletin boards were and many saw the Internet as a playground for geeks, so I understood the negative reaction. Of course, I still found it funny that they were willing to send thousands of press releases to people who couldn't care less and wouldn't do anything with the information, but a person guaranteed to share the news promptly and accurately with some of their biggest customers wasn't worth the cost of postage. The fact was I didn't work for a newspaper or magazine, and thus I didn't exist.

(A favorite story of mine from this era was the argument I had with one Disney PR employee about the value of providing PR digitally. At the time, I was receiving press releases in hard copy form, so I had to scan and run them through OCR software in order to turn the information into digital text for sharing online. I called Disney and suggested that a site with downloadable files would make it easier for journalists and was told there was no doubt that real journalists preferred press releases on paper. Apparently journalists back then really liked typing!)

You'd think that in 2008 that companies would get it, but Target managed to stumble into a high-profile mistake recently.

According to Chief Marketer, ShapingYouth.org blogger Amy Jussel contacted Target to complain about a Times Square billboard that depicted a young lady making a snow angel with the Target bullseye in the middle of her crotch. Target's response to this blogger--who is read by thousands of consumers--was to drop dead.

Okay, the didn't literally say "drop dead" but instead told Amy, "We are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets." As if that wasn't bad enough, Target's anonymous PR flunky made sure to demonstrate how much Target doesn't understand social media by adding, "This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest."

Major bloggers don't reach your core guest while newspapers do, huh? Apparently Target is aiming for the senior citizen demographic!

The lunacy of Target's response earned it bad press, with negative articles appearing on FOX news, CNET, and the New York Times. Which goes to show you exactly what the power of consumers and bloggers is nowadays. The era of tightly-controlled PR being offered to select news outlets that have all the power to distribute information is long gone. Someone tell Target, please!