In regards to the New York Times article about 8 year old Harry, it is quite interesting to see how one comment by the boy's father can stir up so much attention that it caught the eye of the corporate giant. In my opinion it was a rather cold the response that was given to the poor child. I question why the company would take a child's picture suggesting an airplane for them to build so seriously. One would think that they would either ignore it, or thank him for his efforts. Looking at the picture it is quite obvious that is was drawn by a child so I don't understand why they couldn't just make a little boy's day and give him some encouragement.
The father's comments on twitter I think were made because he was rather upset about the situation. I don't think he made those comments intentionally to get attention as one could see from his last tweet on the subject http://www.johnwinsor.com/my_weblog/2010/05/harry-and-boeing-the-update.html. People use social media networks such as twitter to express what's on their minds and this was something that was bothering him. Put yourself in his shoes. Would you be bothered by that if it was your child??
Considering the father's line of work, I'd imagine that he would know the potential influence of tweeting about this - both the positive and the negative. This seems to be apparent to some of the people who responded to the father's post that you link to above at johnwinsor.com:
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Posted by donkjen:
"as posted on komo:
Yeah. I feel for the kid. Not because of what Boeing did, but for what his dad did. The father had a huge opportunity to turn this into a great learning moment by saying, "See son. This is why you should study hard and try to go to work at Boeing one day and design these planes."
Instead the father opted for the other lesson which is, "Watch son. If you throw a big enough temper tantrum, you will get that attention you wanted and people will feel sorry for you. "
not trying to be rude, just honest :-)"
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posted by Good_Grief:
"Sad for your son's future that he has such an overbearing father who won't let him have his own experiences and reach his own conclusions.
You would have served him better by spending time with him talking about the letter and how he could can continue to pursue this dream as he gets older. Instead, this story became about YOU, this silly blog, and how clever you are at rallying other sheep parents who think that their kids should only receive praise in everything that they do. The letter from Boeing wasn't even critical or negative.
I won't miss baby boomers at all, but we will all have your kids to remind us of your terrible parenting skills."
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What this comes down to in the end, perhaps, is a consumer's "schemer schema," that is, a consumer's interpretation of a marketer's influence tactics (see http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/display.asp?id=5947). Do all the people out there see John Winsor or Boeing as just playing out a misunderstanding? Or do they seem them as being marketing gurus trying to influence the simple folk?
I agree... I would definitely be bothered by it, if it were my child. Perhaps not post it on twitter but definitely i would address the situation in some other manner. In addition, i find it incredible as well that justice can be served by simply posting the situation on some sort of social media. The business world has changed immensely due to the internet, and I'm glad it provides more transparency in what companies are doing and how they treat their customers.
ReplyDeleteBig corporations are thinking too much in a "corporate way". I guess when there is a big company like Boeing, they sometimes lose their "human side" and think of everything else in terms of business and money. In this case, business = ideas and creations; money = lawsuits. I'm pretty sure that they receive thousands of letters each month - but not being able to differentiate a child's letter from an adult, not that is pretty sad. Whoever wrote the original letter to the son must of not cared of how the child feels. I wonder if the child did write a proposal to Boeing along with the letter. If so, there is no reason why the orignal letter back to Harry would be so dramatic (for an 8 year old) because they would have KNOWN that it was a child writing to them. To me, it is pretty ridiculous, and Boeing is receiving bad press for this.
ReplyDeleteLesson learned for Boeing and its employees.
I also agree with all of you in that Boeing should have been able to recognize that the drawing came from a child.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent myself, I would have reacted in the same manner as John Winsor. Although I doubt I would have gotten the same response as he did. The networking his ad company has established, helped him get a lot more exposure. I wouldn't be able to have the same results with just my blog and twitter account.
Though I don't agree with Boeing's response to a child, you also have to look at it from a business perspective. I am not an artist. If I, a 22 year old, decided I had a great idea for Boeing and wanted to share it with them, I'd know it needs to stand out. Drawing my idea for them isn't far fetched, and it honestly wouldn't look far from what Harry's looked like. Also, if I was an indecent person, which many people are, I could easily lie and say I'm an 8 year girl when I'm not. Boeing and all other big corporations need to take all of that into consideration when they develop their standard form letter, and from that perspective I understand their cold response.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious to say that the response letter from Boeing was definitely out of context taking on consideration it was an 8 year old child. It seems they not even care about looking at the proposal. It looks like they just got the letter return address and send the form response. As Joseph said they were too focus on the legal and business part that they did not see the situation from another angle. It never cross their mind that a little incident like this was going to transcend with the help of a social network. They did not have that contact with their fans that they might get now that they are exploring the new world (for them) of social networks.
ReplyDeleteI Agree, the way people complain about issues nowadays is mostly through Social Media. It is the best way to make sure a great amount of people will see it. In the case of the boy's father his CEO position help him to get through more people, yet I do believe that he did not do it to gain attention towards his company. Hi did it because as a father he was upset that Boeing had ruin his son dreams.
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