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By B.L. Ochman


Rob Delaney, a comedian whom Business Week calls “Mitt Romney’s chief tormenter on Twitter”, had some fun with @Charmin on Twitter. And, unlike a whole lot of other brands, Charmin responded in kind.

Anyone who’s ever worked for a major corporation knows that could have gone another way. A senior level account person could have decided that mention of a bear eating a child because of Charmin could lead to a whole shitload (sorry!) of bad press. And that could have set off a stream of craziness like so many we’ve witnessed before.

To Charmin’s credit, they shot back with a funny retort. End of non-issue.

Old Spice and Taco Bell had a fun tertuffle (man! it’s not often one gets to use that word!) on Twitter a couple of weeks ago, and both handled it with a sense of humor.

We’ve come a long way, baby!
These brands didn’t run to lawyers to get cease and desist letters sent to Delaney the way brands like Mattel did at the dawn of the Internet Age in 2003 when they sued an artist showing naked Barbies being assaulted by kitchen appliances. (Really, Mattel did that!) Mattel made an equally dim legal move against the creators of Scrabulous in 2008.

Social media is about engaging in conversation. Hats off the brands who get it.

And Rob Delaney, please stay on Romney!