H&M Submits to Twitter Firestorm

One of my favorite quotes about social media is from noted social scientist and technology expert,Clay Shirky. It goes like this: “Tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring. It isn’t when the shiny new tools show up that their new uses start permeating society, it’s when everybody is able to take them for granted.” The point here is that the technology isn’t really what matters. What does matter is the social change the technology fosters.

A perfect illustration of this took shape last week when a story broke concerning global apparel retailer H&M. The New York Times reported that H&M was discovered destroying and discarding large quantities of perfectly good (but unsold) clothing at its 34th Street location in Manhattan.

Despite the Time’s request for comment, H&M remained mum on the issue – presumably hoping it would go away. But then something remarkable happened. Something that only a few years ago couldn’t have taken place. Twitter got a hold of the story and within minutes the issue was rocketing up the trending topics list.

Tweets lashed out at H&M for what people saw as gross lack of charity for not donating the items. Others keyed in on the environmental faux pas of throwing useable clothes in the garbage. And almost all marvelled at how the retailer could be so callous to the obvious financial hardships people faced in the current economy. In no time, it became a firestorm. 

The topic spent a full day in the number two spot on Twitters trending topics list before a representative from H&M contacted the New York Times to say very simply that it would “not happen again” and emphasized that this was “not a standard practice.”

Following the statement, tweets of acknowledgement and even commendation for H&M filled theTwitterverse. Not only was the mob satisfied with the response, they were spreading Kudos to H&M for owning up to the problem and doing the right thing.

What’s meaningful here is that it wasn’t the New York Times or any other media titan that brought H&M to bear on the issue.  It was ordinary people leveraging simple technology to create social change. It didn’t require pickets outside the store, letters to the company president, or an embargo on patronage. It merely took one day in the digital court of public opinion.

If there’s a lesson to retailers in this, it’s that sitting on the social media sidelines is no longer an option. Even the worst controversy offers hope of redemption, provided companies listen and respond quickly. And perhaps most importantly, the days of “no comment” crisis management are over.